Monuments to visit New York

Since the dramatic attacks of 11 September 2001 and the collapse of the towers, which killed nearly 3,000 people, there has been a strange atmosphere surrounding Ground Zero. The area is still cut off by numerous barricades and police officers are on every street corner. This huge secure area has become a place of pilgrimage. The entire site will not be completed until 2020. On February 27, 2003, the think tank responsible for deciding on the reconstruction of the World Trade Center made its choice. Among six projects proposed by some of the world's leading architects, Memory Foundations, Daniel Libeskind and his team called THINK were chosen. Its aesthetics, its performance, its symbolism and, above all, its connection between memory and the future had to convince New York decision-makers. But by July 2003, the data had changed again under the leadership of Larry Silverstein, who had been the site's landlord since July 2001 (just under two months before 9/11). Libeskind's project is partially abandoned, although Libeskind continues to supervise the overall construction of the One World Trade Center. In particular, architect David Childs of the SOM agency (Skidmore, Owings, Merrill) is in charge of the design of the new skyscraper. In September 2005, other projects entrusted to other renowned architects were unveiled to the public: the World Trade Center site was to consist of seven buildings. However, in May 2009, with the help of the economic crisis, the projects are still changing and six towers will finally come out of the ground.

Ground Zero is now a highly emotional memorial site and a political symbol. But the World Trade Center site is also a strategic real estate location in the heart of the world's most important financial centre. Hence the great dilemma between the place given to memory and that reserved for office and commercial space. The reconstruction has proved to be extremely complicated and controversial, torn between the frictions of the designers, the weight of the economic crisis, the financial interests and the emotions of the city dwellers and victims. In addition to the crisis, it also took time to reach an agreement with the insurance companies.

Today, the whole world is in a hurry to admire the new towers and memorials, symbols of the city's resilience.

No less than 11 metros have a stop in this huge station, called Oculus, which is also a station for commuter trains. The station itself has been in existence since 1909. It was then razed to the ground and rebuilt in 1971 as part of the huge World Trade Center construction site, before being destroyed again in 2001, this time because of the September 11 attacks. While part of the station was partially reopened in 2003 to facilitate the travel of tens of thousands of New Yorkers, the Oculus architectural project, which includes a shopping centre and numerous metro stations, was not inaugurated until March 2016. Designed by the Spanish architect Santiago Calatrava, the Oculus is supposed to look like a bird flying from the hands of a child. On the first drafts, the two wings had to move (an idea that Calatrava had already explored, since the Milwaukee Art Museum, from its design, is similar to a white phoenix that flaps its wings!), but the project had already far exceeded its initial budget, so this feature was abandoned. During its construction, the building will have been the focus of repeated controversies. At issue is its cost: $4 billion, paid in full with New Yorkers' taxes! In the heart of the station, a huge 7,000 square metre hall all in immaculate white and featuring two floors of numerous luxury boutiques, a two-storey Apple Store and a few restaurants.

This magnificent suspension bridge and its blue-grey steel piers connect Manhattan to Brooklyn, as does its famous neighbour Brooklyn Bridge. Built between 1901 and 1912, it starts from the Lower East Side boundary with Chinatown, to connect the DUMBO district to Brooklyn, on the other side of the East River. You can cross it on foot or by bike, it is much less crowded than the Brooklyn Bridge, but the untimely passage of the subway makes the walk rather difficult! The Manhattan Bridge was immortalized on the poster of the film Il était une fois en Amérique (1984).

The huge building is preceded by monumental stairs and surrounded by gigantic columns, which makes it immediately noticeable! Next to Madison Square Garden, right across the street, it stands out frankly. This is the main building of United States Postal Services (USPS), the American postal service. It was built in 1912, and you can still post postcards on it! Part of the building is part of a major expansion project at Penn Station. Once the work is completed, this is where Amtrak trains should be operating.

The Waldorf Astoria, built in 1931, provisionally closed its doors on March 1, 2017 for important work. For 86 years, it was one of the most beautiful hotels in New York, and certainly the most luxurious. Marilyn Monroe to Audrey Hepburn, along with Franck Sinatra, Charlie Chaplin and all American presidents, the most prestigious and richest tenants (15 000 US $ after all) have won in his suites. The gangsters of the large Italian families also had their habits at the hotel during the Prohibition. This iconic building that appears in many films and series - weekend at the Waldorf (1945), the Tenenbaum family (2001), The Sopranos - will unfortunately lose its splendour to the great regret of the New Yorkers. The Chinese insurance company that bought the building decided to renovate it fully, including part of its facade. The hotel part will be tiny and most of the rooms will be converted into luxury shops on the ground floor and apartments on the upper floors.