Public art in Central Park

New York City's 843-acre (3.41 km2) Central Park is the home of many works of public art in various media, such as bronze, stone, and tile. Many are sculptures in the form of busts, statues, equestrian statues, and panels carved or cast in low relief. Others are two-dimensional bronze or tile plaques. Some artworks do double-duty as fountains, or as part of fountains; some serve as memorials dedicated to a cause, to notable individuals, and in one case, to a notable animal. Most were donated by individuals or civic organizations; only a few were funded by the city.

The gilded bronze statue of the Sherman Monument (dedicated in 1903), sculpted by Augustus Saint-Gaudens on a pedestal designed by Charles Follen McKim.[1]

Examples of public art in the park include memorials dedicated to notable individuals such as the poet William Shakespeare and the statesman Daniel Webster; depictions of archetypical characters such as The Pilgrim, Indian Hunter, and The Falconer; depictions of literary characters such as Alice in Wonderland; numerous depictions of imaginary animals, and at least one of a real one (the statue of Balto). The only artifact from the ancient world is the Egyptian obelisk known as "Cleopatra's Needle", the oldest and tallest artwork in the park.

The bronze statue Angel of the Waters at Bethesda Terrace, by Emma Stebbins, atop a stone basin by Jacob Wrey Mould and Central Park's co-designer Calvert Vaux.[2]

Traditionally, depictions of real (as opposed to imaginary) humans were men, whereas depictions of women have been either mythological characters (angels or goddesses) or characters from literature. The installation in 2020 of the Women's Rights Pioneers Monument, depicting three female activists, was a first step in addressing this oversight.

In recent years, park administrators have provided a forum for temporary exhibitions of artwork at the Doris Freedman Plaza, just outside the park's southeast entrance.

List of public art in Central Park

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Name Location / GPS Coordinates Date & Designers Notes
107th Infantry Memorial (World War One)

 

Fifth Ave., opp. 67th St.
40°46′09″N 73°58′10″W / 40.76927°N 73.96937°W / 40.76927; -73.96937 (107th Infantry Memorial)
Commissioned in 1920; dedicated in 1927; Karl Illava, sculptor;
Rogers & Haneman, architects;
Fonderia G. Vignali, founder.
A bronze sculpture atop a North Jay granite base, in honor of the 7th Regiment New York, 107th United States Infantry.

IAS Number: 76003536

Alice in Wonderland

 

North side of Central Park's Conservatory Pond.
40°46′30″N 73°58′00″W / 40.77504°N 73.966543°W / 40.77504; -73.966543 (Alice in Wonderland Statue)
Unveiled in 1959; Ferando Texidor, designer;
José de Creeft, sculptor;
Hideo Sasaki, landscape architect;
cast by the Modern Art Foundry.
A bronze sculpture atop a base of Chelmsford granite depicting characters from Lewis Carroll's 1865 classic Alice's Adventures in Wonderland: Alice, seated on a giant mushroom, the White Rabbit, the Cheshire Cat, the Dormouse, and Mad Hatter. Donated by publisher George Delacorte in memory of his wife Margarita, the sculpture is embellished with quotations from her favorite poem, "Jabberwocky".

IAS Number: 87870163

Statue of Hans Christian Andersen

 

West side of Central Park's Conservatory Pond.
40°46′28″N 73°58′04″W / 40.7744306°N 73.9677972°W / 40.7744306; -73.9677972 (Hans Christian Andersen)
Unveiled in 1956; Georg J. Lober, sculptor;
cast by the Modern Art Foundry;
Otto Frederick Langman, designer of bench.
A bronze statue depicting the Danish fairytale author Hans Christian Andersen, seated on a Stony Creek granite bench, feeding a duck (his most notable work being The Ugly Duckling). Funded with contributions from Danish and American schoolchildren.[3]

IAS Number: |87870162

Ballplayers House Frieze

 

North side of Heckscher Ballfields.
40°46′13″N 73°58′33″W / 40.7703°N 73.975917°W / 40.7703; -73.975917 (Ballplayers House frieze)
Completed in 1990;
Buttrick White & Burtis, architects.[4]
An encaustic tile frieze wrapping the building, symbolizing a ball bouncing across a baseball field.
Statue of Balto

 

Between the East 67th St. park entrance and Central Park East Drive.
40°46′12″N 73°58′16″W / 40.769959°N 73.971022°W / 40.769959; -73.971022 (Balto Statue)
Unveiled in 1925; Frederick G.R. Roth, sculptor;
Roman Bronze Works.
A bronze statue mounted on natural rock, portraying one of over 200 sled-dogs that delivered diphtheria serum through a blizzard to Nome, Alaska in January 1925. Balto attended the dedication of his statue (a rarity among Central Park statuary subjects) and died in 1933.[5]

IAS Number: 87870159

Bust of Ludwig van Beethoven

 

West side of The Mall.
40°46′22″N 73°58′19″W / 40.772866°N 73.971872°W / 40.772866; -73.971872 (Beethoven Memorial)
Installed in 1884; Henry Baerer, sculptor;
George Fischer & Brother Bronze Works.
A bronze bust atop a polished Barre granite plinth created in memory of the German composer.

IAS Number: 76003467

Belvedere Castle Cockatrice

 

Belvedere Castle.
40°46′46″N 73°58′09″W / 40.779447°N 73.96906°W / 40.779447; -73.96906 (Belvedere Castle)
Completed in 1869; Jacob Wrey Mould, designer of the cockatrice;
Calvert Vaux, architect of the castle.
A decorative bronze transom panel in the facade of the Belvedere Castle.
Bethesda Fountain

 

Bethesda Terrace.
40°46′27″N 73°58′16″W / 40.774111°N 73.971139°W / 40.774111; -73.971139 (Bethesda Fountain)
Unveiled in 1873; Emma Stebbins, sculptor of the angel & four cherubs;
Royal Foundry (Munich, Germany);
Jacob Wrey Mould, designer of architectural ornament;
Calvert Vaux, architect.
A bronze statue known as the Angel of the Waters atop a reeded bronze basin, supported by four cherubs atop a polychrome stone basin, which in turn sits in a 90 foot diameter basin. Emma Stebbins is said to have been the first woman to receive a public sculptural commission in New York City.

IAS Number: 76002831

Bethesda Terrace Balustrade

 

 

Bethesda Terrace and Terrace Drive.
40°46′26″N 73°58′16″W / 40.773949°N 73.9711001°W / 40.773949; -73.9711001 (Bethesda Terrace)
Jacob Wrey Mould, architectural sculpture and ornament;
Calvert Vaux, architect.
A variety of architectural sculpture and ornament carved in New Brunswick sandstone at the terrace balustrades and piers.
Bethesda Terrace Arcade

 

Beneath Terrace Drive.
40°46′26″N 73°58′16″W / 40.773949°N 73.9711001°W / 40.773949; -73.9711001 (Bethesda Terrace)
Installed in 1869; Jacob Wrey Mould, designer of ornamental tiles;
Calvert Vaux, architect of arcade;
Mintons, tile fabricator.
Forty-nine encaustic tile panels framed in cast iron, suspended from the roadway above. Each panel is made from 324 individual tiles.
Equestrian statue of Simón Bolívar

 

Bolívar Plaza,
Central Park South, opp. Ave. of the Americas.
40°45′56″N 73°58′33″W / 40.765689°N 73.975792°W / 40.765689; -73.975792 (Simón Bolívar Statue)
Dedicated in 1921; Sally James Farnham, sculptor;
Roman Bronze Works;
relocated in 1951.
A bronze equestrian statue atop a polished black granite plinth, originally sited between 82nd and 83rd Streets overlooking Central Park West. In 1951, after Sixth Avenue was renamed Avenue of the Americas, the sculpture was relocated adjacent fellow Latin American revolutionary leaders José de San Martín and José Martí.

IAS Number: 76003468

Arthur Brisbane Memorial

 

Fifth Ave. opp. 101st St.
40°47′28″N 73°57′13″W / 40.791183°N 73.953557°W / 40.791183; -73.953557 (Arthur Brisbane Bench)
Installed in 1939; Richmond Barthé, sculptor;
Shreve, Lamb and Harmon, architects.
A bench with a relief portrait of journalist Arthur Brisbane (1864-1936), sculpted in Swensons pink granite.

IAS Number: 76003469

Conservatory Garden
Burnett Memorial Fountain
Fifth Ave. opp. 105th St.
40°47′35″N 73°57′10″W / 40.793056°N 73.952778°W / 40.793056; -73.952778 (Burnett Memorial Fountain)
Dedicated in 1937; Bessie Potter Vonnoh, sculptor;
Aymar Embury II, architect;
Roman Bronze Works.
A bronze sculpture atop a pink granite plinth sitting in a small basin, created in memory of children's author Frances Hodgson Burnett. The work illustrates Mary and Dickon, characters from her book The Secret Garden (1910).

IAS Number: 76003471

Statue of Robert Burns

 

Literary Walk, south end of The Mall.
40°46′12″N 73°58′21″W / 40.770108°N 73.972570°W / 40.770108; -73.972570 (Robert Burns Memorial)
Dedicated in 1880; Sir John Steell, sculptor. A bronze statue of Burns atop a pink granite base, created in memory of the Scots poet.

IAS Number: 76003469

Cherry Hill Fountain

 

Cherry Hill, south of The Lake.
40°46′29″N 73°58′22″W / 40.774698°N 73.972712°W / 40.774698; -73.972712 (Cherry Hill Fountain)
Jacob Wrey Mould, architectural ornament; Calvert Vaux, architect.
City Employees Memorial Flagpole

 

West side of The Mall.
40°46′23″N 73°58′19″W / 40.773056°N 73.971944°W / 40.773056; -73.971944 (City Employees Memorial Flagpole)
Installed in 1928; Georg J. Lober, sculptor;
Otto Frederick Langman, architect.
An iron flagstaff supported by a bronze mounting embellished with four medallions and four eagles, sitting atop a Deer Isle granite pedestal with inscriptions. The memorial is dedicated to city employees who are, or were, veterans of American wars. Lober and Langman collaborated on the statue of George M. Cohan, installed at Duffy Square in 1959.

IAS Number: 76003476

Cleopatra's Needle

 

West of the Metropolitan Museum.
40°46′47″N 73°57′56″W / 40.779638°N 73.965451°W / 40.779638; -73.965451 (Cleopatra's Needle)
Erected by Thutmose III at the Temple of Tum at Heliopolis ca 1500–1600 B.C.;
gifted to US in 1869;
dedicated in Central Park in 1881.
An ancient Egyptian obelisk, a gift of Egypt to the United States.

ISA Number: 87870165

Statue of Christopher Columbus

 

East Drive, south of The Mall
40°46′12″N 73°58′22″W / 40.769899°N 73.972791°W / 40.769899; -73.972791 (Christopher Columbus Statue)
Jeronimo Suñol, sculptor;
Napoleon LeBrun, architect;
Federico Masriera, foundry in Barcelona.
A bronze statue atop a Rockport granite plinth. Cast in Barcelona in 1892, the statue was donated to Central Park by the New York Genealogical and Biographical Society in commemoration of the 400th anniversary of Columbus's arrival in the Americas. The statue replicates one made by Jeronimo Suñol in 1886, now in Madrid.[6] The New York version was placed in the park in 1894 at the foot of the Mall.

ISA Number: 87870160

Conservatory Garden Central Fountain

 

Fifth Ave. opp. 105th St.
40°47′38″N 73°57′10″W / 40.793892°N 73.952824°W / 40.793892; -73.952824 (Conservatory Garden Center Fountain)
Installed in 1937 when the garden was created. A single column of water that collects in a circular basin. A display fountain.
Dana Discovery Center Donor's Plaque

 

North shore of Harlem Meer.
40°47′49″N 73°57′05″W / 40.7970821°N 73.95147°W / 40.7970821; -73.95147 (Dana Center donor's plaque)
Dedicated in 1993; Buttrick White & Burtis, architects.[7]
Dana Discovery Center Plaque

 

North shore of Harlem Meer.
40°47′49″N 73°57′05″W / 40.7970821°N 73.95147°W / 40.7970821; -73.95147 (Fish and fowl plaque)
Dedicated in 1993; Buttrick White & Burtis, architects.[8][9] An encaustic tile panel depicting fish and fowl, the name of the building and the date of its construction. A chevron band symbolizes the water of Harlem Meer which the building overlooks.
Dancing Goat Central Park Zoo, north of the Sea Lion Pool.
40°46′05″N 73°58′18″W / 40.768185°N 73.971568°W / 40.768185; -73.971568 (Dancing Goat Fountain)
Installed in 1935; Frederick Roth, sculptor;
cast by the Roman Bronze Works;
relocated in 1988.
A bronze statue on a granite platform, functioning as a fountain, set into an arched niche.

IAS Number: 76003481

Decorative Zoological Panels Central Park Zoo. Installed ca 1934; Frederick Roth, sculptor. Fifteen limestone panels of animals carved in low relief.

IAS Number: 76003538

Delacorte Clock

 

Children's Zoo.
40°46′05″N 73°58′16″W / 40.768056°N 73.971111°W / 40.768056; -73.971111 (Delacorte Musical Clock)
Installed in 1964; Andrea Spadini, sculptor;
Edward Coe Embury, architect;
Fernando Texidor, designer.
The monkeys atop the tower ring the bell on the hour. The lower 6 animals twirl and parade around the tower on the hour and half-hour.
  • Two monkeys (ringing the bell)
  • Penguin (with drum)
  • Hippopotamus (with violin)
  • Bear (with tambourine)
  • Elephant (with concertina)
  • Goat (with Pan pipes)
  • Kangaroo (with horn)
  • Baby Kangaroo (with small clarinet)

IAS Number: 87870158

Frederick Douglass Memorial

 

Frederick Douglass Circle,
Central Park North & Frederick Douglass Boulevard.
40°48′02″N 73°57′29″W / 40.800583°N 73.958167°W / 40.800583; -73.958167 (Frederick Douglass Circle)
Dedicated in 2011; Gabriel Koren, sculptor;
Algernon Miller and Quennell Rothschild & Partners, plaza and fountain design;
Polich-Tallix, foundry.
A larger-than-life bronze statue on a bronze base on a granite platform, set in the middle of a memorial plaza dedicated to Douglass, a 19th-century abolitionist, activist, and author.
Daniel Draper Plaque

 

Belvedere Castle.
40°46′46″N 73°58′09″W / 40.779447°N 73.96906°W / 40.779447; -73.96906 (Belvedere Castle)
Installed in 1035; Anton Brandts Subiesky, sculptor. IAS Number:76003487
S. Rankin Drew Memorial Tree Marker

 

72nd St., west of The Mall.
40°46′25″N 73°58′20″W / 40.773632°N 73.972120°W / 40.773632; -73.972120 (S. Rankin Drew Marker)
Installed in 1928; unknown designer. Drew was a silent movie actor/director who died in World War I. The American Legion planted an oak tree in his memory in 1920, and installed the marker in 1928.

IAS Number: 76003488

Granite Eagles Central Park Zoo. Installed on the First Avenue Bridge in 1912; Rochette and Parzini, sculptors.
Relocated to Central Park in 1941.
Eight statues salvaged from an overpass built in 1912 to span the Shore Parkway in Brooklyn, NY, but demolished in 1941.

IAS Number: 76003491

Eagles and Prey

 

Center Drive, opp. Lilac Walk.
40°46′21″N 73°58′21″W / 40.772474°N 73.972484°W / 40.772474; -73.972484 (Eagles and Prey)
Cast in Paris in 1850;
installed in Central Park in 1863; Christophe Fratin, sculptor; Gordon Webster Burnham, donor.
A bronze sculpture on a Quincy granite pedestal depicting a goat captured by two eagles. Said to be the earliest sculpture installed in a New York City park.

IAS Number: 76003492

Duke Ellington Memorial Duke Ellington Circle,
Fifth Ave. & 110th St.
40°47′48″N 73°56′57″W / 40.79675°N 73.949028°W / 40.79675; -73.949028 (Duke Ellington (Graham))
Dedicated in 1997;
Robert Graham, sculptor.
A bronze statue of the musician and composer astride a piano on a platform supported by nine bronze caryatids standing on a red granite platform.[10]
The Falconer

 

West 72nd St.
40°46′27″N 73°58′26″W / 40.774111°N 73.973806°W / 40.774111; -73.973806 (The Falconer)
Cast in 1871;
installed in 1875;
George Blackall Simonds, sculptor;
Clemente Papi, foundry.
A bronze statue on a Barre granite pedestal.

IAS Number: 76003496

Fort Clinton Memorial McGowan's Pass, Between Fifth Ave. & East Drive, opp. 107th St.
40°47′43″N 73°57′11″W / 40.7951434°N 73.9529624°W / 40.7951434; -73.9529624 (Fort Clinton (Central Park))
Installed in 1906;
William Welles Bosworth, designer.
A pedestal for a mortar unearthed at the long ago demolished Fort Clinton.[11]

IAS Number: 76002752

Friedel Memorial Drinking Fountain

 

Runners Gate,
Fifth Ave. opp. 90th St.
Dedicated in 1992;
Mark Rabinowitz, sculptor.
Andrew Haswell Green Memorial Bench

 

East Drive, east of The Ravine
40°47′42″N 73°57′15″W / 40.795126°N 73.954291°W / 40.795126; -73.954291 (Andrew Haswell Green Bench)
Dedicated in 1929;
John Vredenburgh Van Pelt, architect.
A Tennessee pink marble bench dedicated to a key member of the park's Board of Commissioners during the park's construction.
Group of Bears

 

Pat Hoffman Friedman Playground,
79th St. & Fifth Ave.
40°46′39″N 73°57′50″W / 40.7775°N 73.963967°W / 40.7775; -73.963967 (Group of Bears)
Paul Manship, sculptor;
Bruce Kelly and David Varnell, landscape architects for 1989 installation;
cast by Paul King Foundry.
A bronze sculpture depicting three bears, on a bronze base atop a granite step-stone, first cast in 1932 for the Bronx Zoo. This version was cast in 1989.

IAS Number: NY000142

Statue of Fitz-Greene Halleck

 

The Mall
40°46′15″N 73°58′20″W / 40.770740°N 73.972117°W / 40.770740; -73.972117 (Fitz-Greene Halleck Memorial)
Cast in 1876;
dedicated in 1877;
James Wilson Alexander MacDonald, sculptor.
A bronze statue atop a Westerly granite pedestal, dedicated to a poet and literary critic.

IAS Number: 76003506

Statue of Alexander Hamilton

 

East Drive, west of the Metropolitan Museum.
40°46′51″N 73°57′54″W / 40.780807°N 73.964946°W / 40.780807; -73.964946 (Alexander Hamilton (Conrads))
Dedicated in 1880;
Carl Conrads, sculptor;
New England Granite Works.
Donated by John Church Hamilton, a son of the subject.
A statue of a Founding Father sculpted in Westerly granite atop a pedestal of the same material, standing in a grove of apple trees.

IAS Number: 76002763

Bust of Victor Herbert

 

The Mall, opp. the bandstand.
40°46′22″N 73°58′19″W / 40.772847°N 73.972061°W / 40.772847; -73.972061 (Victor Herbert Memorial)
Installed in 1927;
Edmond Thomas Quinn, sculptor.
A bronze sculpture atop a Stony Creek granite pedestal, dedicated to the Irish-American composer.

IAS Number: 76003508

Honey Bear

 

Central Park Zoo, north of the Delacorte Musical Clock.
40°46′06″N 73°58′16″W / 40.768248°N 73.971139°W / 40.768248; -73.971139 (Honey Bear)
Installed in 1937;
Frederick Roth, sculptor;
Roman Bronze Works, foundry. Relocated in 1988.
A bronze statue in the Central Park zoo, set into a niche, functioning as a fountain.

IAS Number: 76003480

Bust of Alexander von Humboldt

 

Explorers Gate,
Central Park West opp. 77th St.
40°46′46″N 73°58′24″W / 40.779476°N 73.973285°W / 40.779476; -73.973285 (Alexander von Humboldt)
Dedicated on September 14, 1869. Gustav Blaeser, sculptor; cast by Georg Ferdinand Howaldt, Braunschweig.[12] Relocated in 1981. A bronze sculpture atop a Westerly granite plinth, donated by an association of German-Americans. It originally stood at Fifth Ave. near 59th St.[13]

IAS Number: 76008978

Richard Morris Hunt Memorial

 

Fifth Ave. opp. 70th St.
40°46′17″N 73°58′04″W / 40.7715°N 73.9679°W / 40.7715; -73.9679 (Richard Morris Hunt Memorial)
Commissioned in 1896;
dedicated on October 31, 1898;
allegorical figures added 1901.[14] Daniel Chester French, sculptor;
Bruce Price, architect;
Henry-Bonnard Bronze Co., foundry.
A bronze bust of the architect in a granite exedra with marble columns. Two bronze allegorical statues represent (right) Architecture and (left) Painting and Sculpture.

IAS Number: 76006062

Waldo Hutchins Memorial Bench

 

Fifth Ave. opp. 72nd St.

40°46′22″N 73°58′02″W / 40.772778°N 73.967222°W / 40.772778; -73.967222 (Waldo Hutchins Bench)

Installed in 1932;
Eric Gugler, architect;
Paul Manship, sculptor.
There is a small sundial at the center of the bench.

IAS Number: 76003511

Indian Hunter

 

66th St., west of The Mall.
40°46′14″N 73°58′23″W / 40.770417°N 73.973133°W / 40.770417; -73.973133 (Indian Hunter (Ward))
Cast in 1866;
dedicated in 1869. John Quincy Adams Ward, sculptor;
L. A. Amouroux, foundry.
A bronze sculpture of a Native American man and his dog, atop a granite pedestal — the first work of an American sculptor to be installed in Central Park.

IAS Number: 76003513

King Jagiello Monument

 

79th St., east of Turtle Pond
40°46′44″N 73°58′00″W / 40.778889°N 73.966667°W / 40.778889; -73.966667 (King Jagiello Monument)
Modeled in 1908–09;
cast in 1939;
Stanislaw Kazimierz Ostrowski, sculptor.
Installed in Central Park in 1945;
Aymar Embury II, architect.
A bronze equestrian statue of a Polish king, set atop a granite pedestal, cast for the Polish Pavilion at the 1939 New York World's Fair, and said to be the largest sculpture in Central Park.

[15]
IAS Number: 87870164

Kilmer Memorial Plaque

 

West of the Mall
40°46′17″N 73°58′22″W / 40.7714117°N 73.9727411°W / 40.7714117; -73.9727411 (Kilmer Memorial Plaque)
Designer and date of installation unknown. A bronze plaque in memory of the poet Joyce Kilmer, set into a cast-stone plinth.
Knights of Pythias Memorial
(World War I memorial)
Memorial Grove. A 42" high, 48" wide Barre light gray granite monument.
Statue of Fred Lebow Onassis Reservoir Jogging Track,
East Drive opp. 90th St.
40°47′03″N 73°57′33″W / 40.784064°N 73.959127°W / 40.784064; -73.959127 (Fred Lebow Statue)
Unveiled in 1994;
Jesus Ygnacio Dominguez, sculptor;
relocated in 2001.
A bronze statue on a granite base, dedicated to a founder of the New York City Marathon, placed each November near the marathon finish line.
Lehman Gates

 

Children's Zoo, 72nd Street Entrance
40°46′07″N 73°58′15″W / 40.768611°N 73.970972°W / 40.768611; -73.970972 (Lehman Gates)
Dedicated in 1961;
Edward Coe Embury, architect;
Paul Manship, sculptor;
Roman Bronze Works, foundry.
A bronze sculptural fantasia depicting children and animals set atop three Swensons green granite piers. Three bronze commemorative plaques are mounted on the piers.

IAS Number: 76007112

Levy Gate Pat Hoffman Friedman Playground
near Fifth Ave. & 79th St.
Cast ca 1957;
dedicated in 1958;
John Wilson, architect; Walter Beretta, sculptor. Relocated in 1989.
A bronze gate embellished with sculptures of monkeys, owls, and squirrels.

IAS Number: 87870242

Sophie Irene Loeb Memorial Fountain

 

Fifth Ave., bet. 76th & 77th Streets
40°46′33″N 73°57′54″W / 40.775781°N 73.965113°W / 40.775781; -73.965113 (Loeb Memorial Fountain)
Unveiled in 1936;
Frederick Roth, sculptor;
C. Dale Badgeley, architect.
A granite pier in a cast concrete basin, embellished with characters from Alice in Wonderland. Funded by August Heckscher.

IAS Number: 76003525

Lombard Lamp East Drive & 60th Street Carl Borner, sculptor.
Original created in 1869;
This version cast ca 1979;
dedicated on March 1, 1979.
A cast-iron and aluminum street light, a gift from the City of Hamburg, Germany.
Equestrian statue of José Martí

 

At Central Park South opp. Avenue of the Americas.
40°45′58″N 73°58′34″W / 40.766043°N 73.976156°W / 40.766043; -73.976156 (José Martí Statue)
Anna Hyatt Huntington, sculptor;
Domico Scoma Bronze Works, foundry
Cast in 1959;
dedicated in 1965.
A bronze equestrian statue atop a Barre granite pedestal.

IAS Number: 87870168

Martin Memorial Birdbath Central Park Zoo Oronzio Maldarelli, sculptor; dedicated in 1942. A bird bath sculpted with Colorado black marble and Colorado white marble, in memory of Edith Deacon Martin.
Bust of Giuseppe Mazzini

 

Sheep Meadow,
West Drive, near 67th Street
40°46′22″N 73°58′36″W / 40.772867°N 73.976667°W / 40.772867; -73.976667 (Bust of Giuseppe Mazzini)
Giovanni Turini, sculptor;
F. Matriati, architect;
George Fischer & Brother, foundry.
Unveiled in 1878.
A bronze bust atop a Westerly granite pedestal. The poet William Cullen Bryant delivered an address at the sculpture's unveiling.[16]

IAS Number: 87870169

John Purroy Mitchel Memorial

 

Engineers Gate,
Fifth Ave., opp. 90th St.
40°47′04″N 73°57′33″W / 40.784367°N 73.959167°W / 40.784367; -73.959167 (John Purroy Mitchel Memorial)
Adolph A. Weinman, sculptor;
Thomas Hastings, architect;
Donn Barber, architect.
Proposed in 1918;
commissioned in 1921;
dedicated November 14, 1928;
bust repaired in 1966.
A gilded bronze bust, mounted on a black slate panel, set within a North Jay granite aedicula. Mitchel was the youngest mayor in New York City history, serving from 1914 to 1917. After losing re-election, and after America entered World War I, he enlisted the US Army aviation service but died in a training accident in Louisiana.

IAS Number: 76003532

Bust of Thomas Moore

 

East Drive, bet. 60th & 61st Streets
40°45′56″N 73°58′24″W / 40.765556°N 73.973333°W / 40.765556; -73.973333 (Thomas Moore Memorial)
Dennis B. Sheahan, sculptor;
George Fischer & Bros., foundry.
Dedicated in 1879.
A bronze bust atop a Conway green granite pedestal, in memory of the Irish poet Thomas Moore (1779–1852).

IAS Number: 76002891

Statue of Samuel Finley Breese Morse

 

Fifth Ave. opp. 72nd St.
40°46′21″N 73°58′02″W / 40.7725°N 73.967306°W / 40.7725; -73.967306 (Samuel Morse Memorial)
Byron M. Pickett, sculptor;
cast by Maurice J. Power, National Fine Art Foundry.
Commissioned in 1870;
dedicated in 1871.
A bronze statue on a Quincy granite pedestal, created in honor of Morse and his contribution to telegraphic communication.

IAS Number: 76003533

Mother Goose

 

Entrance to Rumsey Play Field
40°46′21″N 73°58′10″W / 40.772439°N 73.969504°W / 40.772439; -73.969504 (Mother Goose)
Frederick Roth, sculptor.
Installed in 1938.
A granite sculpture, portraying the famous story-book character atop a flying goose, with bas relief panels illustrating Humpty Dumpty and Old King Cole, among others.

IAS Number: 76003534

William Church Osborn Gates

 

Entrance to Ancient Playground,
Fifth Ave., bet. 84th & 85th Streets
40°46′51″N 73°57′40″W / 40.780728°N 73.961146°W / 40.780728; -73.961146 (Osborn Memorial Gates)
Paul Manship, sculptor;
Aymar Embury II, architect.
Cast in 1952;
dedicated in 1953.
Bronze gates embellished with plants and animals, mounted onto Minnesota Mahogany granite piers. Two sculptures, one of bears, the other of elk, mounted on Cold Spring granite bases, sit atop each pier. The gates were dedicated to Osborn, a civic leader and 8th president of the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

IAS Number: 76007113

The Pilgrim
(aka Pilgrim Fathers Monument)

 

Pilgrim Hill,
72nd Street
40°46′23″N 73°58′07″W / 40.77315°N 73.968553°W / 40.77315; -73.968553 (The Pilgrim (Ward))
John Quincy Adams Ward, sculptor;
Richard Morris Hunt, architect;
Henry Bonnard Bronze Company, foundry;
cast in 1884;
dedicated in 1885.
IAS Number: 87870161
Pomona

 

 

Pulitzer Fountain, Grand Army Plaza
Fifth Ave. at 59th St.
40°45′51″N 73°58′25″W / 40.76403°N 73.97361°W / 40.76403; -73.97361 (Pulitzer Fountain)
Karl Bitter, sculptor of Pomona;
Thomas Hastings, architect of the fountain and plaza;
Karl Gruppe, sculptor;
Orazio Piccirilli, sculptor (horns of plenty);
Isidore Konti, carver of final model.
Commissioned in 1898;
dedicated in 1916.
Following Bitter's death in 1915, Gruppe and Konti completed the statue of Pomona.

IAS Number: 76003537

Romeo and Juliet

 

Delacorte Theater
40°46′50″N 73°58′08″W / 40.78056°N 73.968754°W / 40.78056; -73.968754 (Romeo and Juliet (Hebald))
Cast in 1978;
installed in 1978:
Milton Hebald, sculptor;
Spartaco Dionesi Foundry.
IAS Number: 87870172
The Rowers

 

Central Park Boathouse
40°46′31″N 73°58′08″W / 40.775278°N 73.96875°W / 40.775278; -73.96875 (Central Park Boathouse)
Irwin Glusker, sculptor;
commissioned in 1968;
dedicated in 1971.
A bronze sculpture dedicated to the memory of Carl and Adeline Loeb, who funded the Central Park Boathouse.

IAS Number: 87870241

Rumsey Tablet Gateway to Mary Harriman Rumsey Playground
40°46′21″N 73°58′11″W / 40.772435°N 73.969588°W / 40.772435; -73.969588 (Rumsey Tablet)
Installed in 1937;
unknown sculptor.
IAS Number: 76003539.
Equestrian statue of José de San Martín

 

Central Park South, opp. Ave. of the Americas.
40°45′58″N 73°58′36″W / 40.7660146°N 73.9765739°W / 40.7660146; -73.9765739 (José de San Martín Statue)
Original dedicated in Buenos Aires in 1862;
Louis Joseph Daumas, sculptor.
This version dedicated in 1951;
Clarke, Rapuano & Holleran, architect of pedestal.
A bronze sculpture atop a black granite pedestal, a copy of Louis Joseph Daumas's 1862 sculpture.

IAS Number: 87870167

Bust of Friedrich von Schiller

 

Poets Walk, along The Mall.
40°46′23″N 73°58′19″W / 40.773194°N 73.971831°W / 40.773194; -73.971831 (Friedrich von Schiller Memorial)
Charles Ludwig Richter, sculptor;
dedicated in 1859;
relocated in 1955.
A bronze bust atop a Saguenan granite pedestal, it was the first sculpture to be installed in Central Park.

IAS Number: 76003543

Statue of Sir Walter Scott

 

Literary Walk, south end of The Mall.
40°46′12″N 73°58′21″W / 40.770071°N 73.972422°W / 40.770071; -73.972422 (Sir Walter Scott Memorial)
Sir John Steell, sculptor;
original ca 1845;
cast in 1871;
dedicated in 1872.
IAS Number: 76003545
Seventh Regiment Memorial
(Civil War memorial)

 

West Drive, opp. the Sheep Meadow.
40°46′26″N 73°58′35″W / 40.773757°N 73.976403°W / 40.773757; -73.976403 (7th Regiment Memorial)
Commissioned in 1869;
dedicated in 1874.
John Quincy Adams Ward, sculptor;
Richard Morris Hunt, architect;
Robert Wood & Company, foundry.
A bronze statue atop a Barre granite base.

IAS Number: 87870170

Statue of William Shakespeare

 

The Mall, near 67th St.
40°46′12″N 73°58′21″W / 40.769862°N 73.972474°W / 40.769862; -73.972474 (William Shakespeare (Ward))
Proposed in 1864, the 300th anniversary of the poet's birth;
commissioned in 1870;
cast in 1871;
dedicated in 1872. John Quincy Adams Ward, sculptor;
Robert Wood & Company, foundry;
Jacob Wrey Mould, architect of base;
Henry Parry, carver of base.
A bronze statue on a granite pedestal, funded by a benefit performance of Shakespeare's Julius Caesar on November 25, 1864 at The Winter Garden Theatre starring Edwin Booth, Junius Brutus Booth Jr., and John Wilkes Booth. The statue is the second of Ward's four in Central Park.

IAS Number: 65700009

Sherman Memorial aka

William Tecumseh Sherman  

Grand Army Plaza,
Fifth Ave. & Central Park South.
40°45′53″N 73°58′24″W / 40.76472°N 73.97322°W / 40.76472; -73.97322 (Sherman Monument)
Commissioned in 1892;
dedicated on May 30, 1903;
gilded in 1903;
Augustus Saint-Gaudens, sculptor;
A. Phimister Proctor, sculptor (horse);
Charles Follen McKim, architect of pedestal;
Norcross Brothers, contractor;
gilded in 1903;
relocated fifteen feet west in 1913;
regilded in 1989 and 2013.
IAS Number: 76003547
Sisters of Charity Plaque

 

West of the Conservatory Garden, on axis of 106th St.
40°47′40″N 73°57′09″W / 40.7944936°N 73.952375°W / 40.7944936; -73.952375 (Plaque, Sisters of Charity)
Plaque dedicated in 1995. The plaque memorializes Mount St. Vincent Academy, a convent and school run by the Sisters of Charity of New York. The building was converted into a military hospital during the Civil War, and demolished in 1917.
Snowbabies Gateway to Mary Harriman Rumsey Playground
40°46′21″N 73°58′11″W / 40.772435°N 73.969588°W / 40.772435; -73.969588 (Snowbabies)
Installed in 1938;
Victor Frisch, sculptor
Cast stone sculptures atop gate piers.

IAS Number: 76003550

William T. Stead Memorial

 

Fifth Ave., opp. 91st St.
40°47′05″N 73°57′29″W / 40.784753°N 73.958117°W / 40.784753; -73.958117 (William T. Stead Memorial)
George Frampton, sculptor;
Thomas Hastings, architect;
original dedicated in London in 1913;
this second version dedicated in 1920.
A bronze plaque mounted on Indiana limestone, a copy of the 1913 Stead Memorial in London. Stead was a British journalist who died in the sinking of the RMS Titanic.

IAS Number: 76003551

Still Hunt

 

 

East Drive.
40°46′36″N 73°58′02″W / 40.776741°N 73.967304°W / 40.776741; -73.967304 (Still Hunt Statue)
Edward Kerneys, sculptor;
M. J. Power Bronze, foundry;
commissioned in 1881;
installed in 1883.
A bronze statue of an American panther on a bronze base, mounted on a rock ledge in a realistic mode.

IAS Number: 76003552

Charles B. Stover Memorial Bench

aka
Whisper Bench  

Shakespeare Garden.
40°46′48″N 73°58′10″W / 40.780022°N 73.969337°W / 40.780022; -73.969337 (Charles B. Stover Bench)
Unknown sculptor;
installed in 1935;
dedicated on November 5, 1936.
A curved, twenty-foot long exedra of Deer Isle granite. Stover was Parks Commissioner from 1910 to 1913.

IAS Number: 76003553

Strawberry Fields

 

West 72nd St. & Terrace Drive.
40°46′33″N 73°58′31″W / 40.775735°N 73.975205°W / 40.775735; -73.975205 (Strawberry Fields (memorial))
Dedicated in 1985;
designed by Bruce R. Kelly, landscape architect.
A five-acre landscape designed as a memorial to John Lennon, the member of the musical group The Beatles. The memorial's centerpiece "Imagine" mosaic was created by masons in Naples, Italy, who donated it to Central Park.
Sundial

 

Shakespeare Garden. Installed in 1945;
Walter Beretta, sculptor.
A bronze sundial mounted on a cast-stone pedestal.
The Tempest

or
Prospero and Miranda  
The sculpture is at left.

Delacorte Theater.
40°46′50″N 73°58′07″W / 40.780531°N 73.968626°W / 40.780531; -73.968626 (The Tempest (Hebald))
Milton Hebald, sculptor;
A. Ottavino Corp., foundry.
Commissioned in 1966;
dedicated in 1973.
A companion piece to Romeo and Juliet.

IAS Number: 87870171

Statue of Albert Bertel Thorvaldsen

 

East side, between 96th & 97th Streets.
40°47′19″N 73°57′22″W / 40.788608°N 73.956005°W / 40.788608; -73.956005 (Thorvaldsen Memorial)
Albert Bertel Thorvaldsen, sculptor;
Lauritz Rasmussen, Copenhagen, foundry.
Cast in 1892;
dedicated in 1894.
A bronze copy after the Danish sculptor's 1839 marble self-portrait (Thorvaldsen Museum, Copenhagen). Commissioned by the United Danes, Norwegians and Swedes of New York and Brooklyn to commemorate the 50th anniversary of Thorvaldsen's death, it is the only statue of an artist displayed in any New York City park.

IAS Number: 76003556

Tigress and Cubs

 

Central Park Zoo.
40°46′03″N 73°58′21″W / 40.767389°N 73.972448°W / 40.767389; -73.972448 (Tigress and Cubs Statue)
Auguste Cain, sculptor;
F. Barbedienne, foundry.
Cast in 1866;
dedicated in 1867.
IAS number: 76003557
Untermyer Fountain

aka
Fountain of the Three Dancing Maidens  

Conservatory Garden.
40°47′39″N 73°57′07″W / 40.79426°N 73.95195°W / 40.79426; -73.95195 (Untermyer Fountain)
Walter Schott, sculptor;
H. Gladenbeck & Son, foundry.
Cast ca 1910;
dedicated in 1947.
One of three castings donated by the family of Samuel Untermyer. The first cast was made in Germany about 1910 and won a Gold Medal at the Brussels World's Fair. Subsequently, two more full-size casts were made, including this one.[17]

IAS Number: 87870166

USS Maine National Monument

 

 
Columbia Triumphant

At Columbus Circle.
40°46′06″N 73°58′52″W / 40.768242°N 73.981012°W / 40.768242; -73.981012 (USS Maine National Monument)
Attilio Piccirilli, sculptor;
Harold Van Buren Magonigle, architect.
Commissioned in 1901;
dedicated in 1913.
IAS Number: 76003528
USS Maine Memorial Tablet

 

USS Maine National Monument Charles Keck, sculptor.
Cast in 1913;
installed in 1936.
Cast of metal from the destroyed battleship.

IAS Number: 76003527

Vanderbilt Gate

 

Fifth Ave., between 104th and 105th Streets.
40°47′37″N 73°57′07″W / 40.793511°N 73.951882°W / 40.793511; -73.951882 (Vanderbilt Gate)
Designed by George B. Post, architect;
fabricator unknown.
One of a pair of 16 foot-tall gates that once opened into the entrance court of the Cornelius Vanderbilt II residence. Fabricated in Paris of wrought iron with cast bronze scrollwork and ornamentation. Installed on 58th Street at Fifth Avenue in 1893;
removed and stored in 1928;
installation in Central Park completed on May 13, 1939.

IAS Number: 76003559

Statue of Daniel Webster

 

West 72nd Street & West Drive
40°46′29″N 73°58′27″W / 40.77475°N 73.97412°W / 40.77475; -73.97412 (Daniel Webster (Ball))
Thomas Ball, sculptor;
statue cast in Munich in 1876;
dedicated in 1876.
A larger-than-life bronze statue on a Quincy granite pedestal depicting a 19th-century American statesman, donated to the city in 1876 by Gordon W. Burnham. The plinth is inscribed with some of Webster's famous quotes: LIBERTY AND UNION, NOW AND FOREVER, ONE AND INSEPARABLE. [18]

IAS Number: 76004876

Women's Rights Pioneers Monument Literary Walk. Sculpted by Meredith Bergmann.
Dedicated on August 26, 2020.
A bronze sculpture portraying suffragists Susan B. Anthony, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, and Sojourner Truth; the first in Central Park to depict real women.[19][20]

Public art in Central Park now removed

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Name Location / GPS Coordinates Dates & Designers Notes
Auld Lang Syne
aka
"Tam O'Shanter and Souter Johnnie"

 

5th Avenue, by the Casino. Robert Thomson [Thompson?], sculptor;
carved in 1862;
dedicated in 1866;
moved to storage;
damaged in a fire 1881.[21]
Equestrian statue of Simón Bolívar

 

Central Park West & 83rd Street Installed in 1884;
R. de la Cora [sic. Rafael de la Cova], sculptor.
The statue was removed by the 1890s. A proposed replacement by Giovanni Turini, to be placed on the same base, was rejected in 1897.[22] The current statue, by Sally James Farnham, was installed in 1921.
Bust of Miguel de Cervantes

 

Fernando Miranda y Casellas, sculptor.[23] Modeled ca 1878;
installed by 1892;[24]
removed after 1918.
 

Sketch of the unexecuted Cervantes Monument (1878).[25]

Commerce

 

8th Avenue, near 59th Street Installed 1865.[26]
Shepard Fountain (destroyed) East Drive, opposite 78th Street Olin Levi Warner, sculptor;
Unknown carver.
Dedicated in 1891 (Union Square)
Moved to Central Park ca 1898;
destroyed in 1953.
The marble drinking fountain was first installed in Union Square, where it was vandalized. It was moved to Central Park about 1898, but deteriorated, and was removed in 1953.[27]

IAS Number: 88100201

Dr. J. Marion Sims Memorial

 

On Fifth Avenue opp. 103rd St.
40°47′33″N 73°57′10″W / 40.792489°N 73.952641°W / 40.792489; -73.952641 (Dr. J. Marion Sims)
Ferdinand von Miller II, sculptor;
Aymar Embury II, architect.
Cast in 1892;
dedicated in 1894;
removed in 2018.
Sims used enslaved women for his gynecological research. The memorial became controversial in the 2000s when this became widely publicized. The statue was removed on April 17, 2018, and will be relocated to Green-Wood Cemetery in Brooklyn, where Sims is buried.[28]

IAS Number: 76003548

Swan and Cygnet
aka
Boy with Swan

 

"near 5th Avenue entrance" Theodor Kalide, sculptor;
original 1834 (Germany);
donated in 1863.
Kalide's Boy with Swan was placed in the Charlottenburg Palace Gardens in Berlin in 1849.[29]
1863 Annual Report: "Feb. 28. One Bronze Fountain—Boy and Swan—presented by Thomas Richardson, Esq."[30]

Temporary installations of public art

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Name Location / GPS Coordinates Dates & Designers Notes
Volatile Presence
Valley Marker
Interrupted Messenger
Measured Presence
Central Park Plaza Beverly Pepper, sculptor, 1983. IAS Numbers:

87480101
87480102
87480103
87480104

The Gates

 

 

7,503 "gates" on 23 miles (37 km) of pathways, throughout the park. Christo and Jeanne-Claude, artists.
Proposed in 1979;
installed February 12–27, 2005.
The Gates was meant to evoke the procession of Japanese gateways leading to Shinto shrines.

IAS Number: 71500738

V W X Yellow Elephant Underwear /
H I J Kiddy Elephant Underwear
Doris Freedman Plaza
5th Avenue & 60th Street
Chinatsu Ban, sculptor, April 8 – July 24, 2005.[31]
Circle of Animals/Zodiac Heads Pulitzer Fountain
5th Avenue & 59th Street
40°45′51″N 73°58′25″W / 40.76403°N 73.97361°W / 40.76403; -73.97361 (Pulitzer Fountain)
Ai Weiwei, sculptor, May 4 – July 15, 2011.
How I Roll Doris Freedman Plaza
5th Avenue & 60th Street
Paola Pivi, artist, June 20 – July 18, 2012. The Piper Seneca would slowly rotate head-over-tail. YouTube video.
The sculpture was scheduled to be exhibited until August 26, but mechanical problems caused it to be removed in July.[32]

Notes

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References

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  1. ^ Kahn, Eve (October 2021). "The Woman who was Victory". The Magazine Antiques. Retrieved February 14, 2023.
  2. ^ "Emma Stebbins, who sculpted a New York angel," The New York Times, May 29, 2019.
  3. ^ "Hans Christian Andersen". Central Park Conservancy. Retrieved June 17, 2014.
  4. ^ Susanne Stephens. “Snack stand for Central Park Ball Field,” The New York Times, July 12, 1990, Section C, page 3. According to the article, the frieze was designed by William Braham, an architect at Buttrick White & Burtis, and fabricated by Brenda Bertin.
  5. ^ "Balto, (sculpture)". Shahbaz Akhtar. Save Outdoor Sculpture, New York, New York survey. 1993. Retrieved February 7, 2012.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: others (link)
  6. ^ Central Park's version of the sculpture is signed "J. SUÑOL"; it bears the foundry mark of Federico Masriera, Barcelona, 1892.
  7. ^ Arcidi, Philip (December 1993). "Learning by the Rules" (PDF). Progressive Architecture. Retrieved May 1, 2020.
  8. ^ "The Arts and Crafts in Architecture Today," Classicist No. 3 (1996–97): 90–96. According to the article, the plaque was designed by Michael Dwyer, an architect at Buttrick White & Burtis, and fabricated by Brenda Bertin.
  9. ^ Arcidi, Philip (December 1993). "Learning by the Rules" (PDF). Progressive Architecture. Retrieved May 1, 2020.
  10. ^ "Duke Ellington Memorial dedicated in Harlem," from ArtNet.
  11. ^ "Tablet is unveiled at old Fort Clinton," The New York Times, November 25, 1906.
  12. ^ Andreas W. Daum, "Nation, Naturforschung und Monument: Humboldt-Denkmäler in Deutschland und den USA" [Humboldt monuments in Germany and the US]. Die Kunst der Geschichte: Historiographie, Ästhetik, Erzählung, ed. Martin Baumeister et al. Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 2009, 113‒15.
  13. ^ Central Park 2000: Alexander von Humboldt; NYC Dept of Parks & Recreation: Alexander von Humboldt Monument
  14. ^ ""Sculpture"". Architects and Builders Magazine. 2 (8): 350. May 1901. Retrieved November 21, 2022.
  15. ^ Daniec, Jadwiga Irena (1982). "In the Footsteps of Stanislaw K. Ostrowski, 1879–1947". The Polish Review. 27 (1/2): 77–91. JSTOR 25777864.
  16. ^ Mazzini address
  17. ^ "The Untermyer Fountain". Central Park Conservancy. Retrieved June 17, 2014.
  18. ^ "Daniel Webster". Central Park Conservancy. Archived from the original on March 10, 2014. Retrieved June 17, 2014.
  19. ^ Kolodny, Sarah (July 24, 2018). "First Statue of Real Women to Debut in Central Park in 2020". NBC New York. Retrieved April 21, 2019.
  20. ^ Halle, Howard (July 24, 2018). "Central Park's first-ever female statue is coming in 2020". Time Out New York. Retrieved April 21, 2019.
  21. ^ "The Lost Auld Lang Syne Sculpture in Central Park," Daytonian in Manhattan, June 18, 2012.
  22. ^ Michael Reed, "The Equestrian Monument of Simon Bolivar."
  23. ^ Theodore Dreiser, "The Sculpture of Fernanado Miranda," Ainslee's Magazine 2 (September 1898), pp. 113–18.
  24. ^ The Sun's Guide to New York (1892), p. 122
  25. ^ "Cervantes. A Monument to be erected in Central Park to the memory of the famed Spanish Writer," The New York Herald, May 18, 1878.
  26. ^ Illustrated in A Description of the New York Central Park. With illustrations by Albert Finch Bellows (1869), p. 92. [1]
  27. ^ Shepard Fountain, from SIRIS.
  28. ^ Rebecca Savransky, "Central Park statue of controversial doctor who conducted research on women removed," The Hill, April 18, 2018.[2]
  29. ^ The Boy with Swan, from Christies London.
  30. ^ Seventh Annual Report of the Board of Commissioners of the Central Park for the Year Ending with December 31, 1863. New York. Wm. C. Bryant & Co. 1864. page 56.[3]
  31. ^ Carol Vogel, "The Murakami Influence," The New York Times, April 6, 2005.
  32. ^ Rich Calder, "Shoddy work cut short Central Park art exhibit: suit," The New York Post, October 18, 2013.
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