United Nations Headquarters description and photos - USA: New York (Topic)

United Nations Headquarters description and photos - USA: New York. Detailed information about the attraction. Description, photographs and a map showing the nearest significant objects. The name in English is United Nations Headquarters.

Photo and description

The United Nations headquarters is located on the east bank of Manhattan overlooking the East River. This is an administrative building, but a tour of it is really exciting - you can see wonderful works of art here. And isn't it interesting to know where exactly Nikita Khrushchev “knocked on the podium with his shoe?”

After the Second World War, the victorious countries created the UN. At first, the organization sought to build a new city for the "capital of the world", but numerous difficulties forced them to turn away from overly ambitious plans. A suitable plot in Manhattan was bought by famed philanthropist John D. Rockefeller Jr. and donated to the city. Architects, engineers and designers from various countries, including the USSR, were invited to design the complex of buildings. The main idea was proposed by the great Le Corbusier. By the time it was completed in 1952, the headquarters was recognized as a model of architecture of the 20th century.

The most notable building of the complex is the flat 39-story office tower that stretches along the East River, which houses the UN Secretariat. It is flanked by a surging General Assembly building. On the front side of the complex, there is a long row of flagpoles with the flags of 193 UN member states and the flag of the organization itself in the center.

The art collection of the headquarters is huge. The works of artists and sculptors here are mainly devoted to the themes of international cooperation and peace. The sculptures by Evgeny Vuchetich “Let's Beat Swords into Plowshares”, Carl Frederick Reutersward's “Twisted Pistol”, “Bell of Peace” from Japan are widely known. France presented the UN with a huge stained glass window by Marc Chagall, affirming the supremacy of love, the USA - a mosaic based on the painting by Norman Rockwell (it depicts people of all races). Zurab Tsereteli also noted here: his George the Victorious tramples on a dragon assembled from the remains of nuclear missiles. Kenya, Zambia and Nepal donated a life-size statue of an elephant, made so realistic that former UN Secretary General Kofi Annan ordered bushes to be planted around the statue (to hide unnecessary details).

More than a million tourists visit the UN headquarters every year ... Everything is open for them here, including the halls of the Security Council and the General Assembly. It is especially interesting to visit this last hall under a huge dome. The legend says, that on October 12, 1960, during the discussion by the General Assembly of the USSR's invasion of Hungary, Nikita Khrushchev tried to disrupt the discussion by knocking his boot on the podium. In fact, this is not the case. Witnesses said that during the speaker's speech, Khrushchev really had a shoe in his hands, and the Soviet leader pointedly examined him, in every possible way showing that he was not interested in the speech. A later photo of Khrushchev on the podium and with a boot was recognized as a photomontage.

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Topic: United Nations Headquarters description and photos - USA: New York.