THE MUSEUM OF THE AMERICAN INDIAN
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Museum dedicated to the North American Indians in Manhattan with a store selling handmade objects and jewelry.
The museum is housed in the former New York Customs House, built in 1907. The building boasts astonishing sculptures, Tiffany's stained-glass windows and one of New York's finest atriums: a rotunda decorated with 16 frescoes glorifying American society and nation. It houses the largest museum on the continent devoted to North American Indians (from the East Coast to Alaska, from the Sioux to the Cheyenne, most tribes are represented). It was created thanks to George Gustav Heye's formidable personal collection, built up with encyclopedic expertise. The museum, founded in 1922 in a separate building in Upper Manhattan, displays over 800,000 objects relating to the rituals and daily life of the various tribes. Unfortunately, there is often no explanation, which doesn't prevent us from admiring the objects, but doesn't always help us understand them. We see real scalps, Sitting Bull's personal pipe, Geronimo's war dress, masks, axes... We see how, in contact with the colonizers, the Indians transformed their crafts. One can only dream, although so many symbols of a free life are poignant to observe behind glass, as if freedom had been caged. A boutique sells specialized literature, objects and handcrafted jewelry made by the so-called Native Americans, who to this day form the most deprived community in the United States.
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