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 Office, built in 1907. Built at the beginning of the 20th century, this house has amazing sculptures, Tiffany's stained glass windows and one of the most beautiful atriums in New York: a rotunda decorated with 16 frescoes glorifying American society and nation. The building houses the largest museum on the continent dedicated to North American Indians (from the east coast to Alaska, from the Sioux to the Cheyenne, most tribes are represented there). It was created thanks to George Gustav Heye's formidable personal collection, built up with encyclopaedic expertise. The museum, founded in 1922 in another building in Upper Manhattan, displays more than 800,000 objects, both religious and secular, from everyday life. Unfortunately, there is often no explanation, which does not prevent us from admiring, but does not always make it possible to understand. We see real scalps, Sitting Bull's personal pipe, Geronimo's war clothes, masks, axes... We see how, in contact with the Whites, the Indians transformed their craft. We can dream, although so many symbols of a free life are poignant to observe in the shelter of the windows, as if we had put freedom in a cage. A boutique sells specialized literature, objects and handcrafted jewellery made by those called Native Americans, who still form the poorest community in the United States to this day.
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