Queens Museum facts for kids
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| Established | 1972 |
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| Location | Flushing Meadows–Corona Park, Queens, New York 11368 |
| Type | Art museum |
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The Queens Museum is an exciting art museum and learning center. It's located in Flushing Meadows–Corona Park in Queens, New York City. The museum started in 1972.
One of its most famous exhibits is the Panorama of the City of New York. This is a huge model of all five boroughs of New York City. It was first made for the 1964 New York World's Fair. The museum also keeps many cool items from the 1939 and 1964 World's Fairs. You can see some of these on display.
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Discover the Museum's Historic Home
From World's Fairs to the United Nations
The Queens Museum is inside the New York City Building. This building was designed for the 1939 New York World's Fair. It's a very old and important place.
After the fair, from 1946 to 1950, this building became the temporary home for the United Nations General Assembly. This is where countries from all over the world met to discuss important global issues. Many big decisions were made here. For example, UNICEF was created, and the plan for Israel was approved.
In 1964, the building was updated for the 1964 New York World's Fair. It was again the New York City Pavilion. This is when the famous Panorama of the City of New York was first shown. It's still a main attraction today!
The building used to be next to the Trylon and Perisphere, which were big symbols of the 1939 fair. Now, the Unisphere stands in that spot. It's a giant globe that you can still see today.
How the Building Became a Museum
In 1972, part of the New York City Building became the Queens Center for Art and Culture. Later, it was renamed the Queens Museum of Art. In 1994, the building was changed again. New galleries, classrooms, and offices were added.
For many years, half of the building was actually an ice skating rink. But in 2009, the museum started a big project to get bigger. They wanted to add more space for exhibits, education, and offices. This project doubled the museum's size.
The ice skating rink moved to a new place in the park. The bigger museum reopened in November 2013. It now uses the entire New York City Building.
Sometimes, the museum has to close because of big events nearby. For example, it closed for a few days during the US Open tennis tournament. This is because of security rules for the sports event.
Explore the Museum's Amazing Collections
What's in the Permanent Collection?
The museum has about 10,000 items in its main collection. More than 6,000 of these are documents and objects from the 1939 and 1964 World's Fairs. You can see some of these cool historical items on display.
The museum also has artworks by famous artists like Salvador Dalí. They have old photographs from the 1964 World's Fair. There are even old crime scene photos from the Daily News newspaper. Plus, they have nearly 1,000 drawings by a political cartoonist named William Sharp.
The Beautiful Tiffany Glass Collection
Since 1995, the museum has shown a special collection of Tiffany glass. These beautiful glass pieces were collected by Dr. Egon Neustadt and his wife. The collection includes amazing windows, lamps, and other objects made of glass.
They also have a huge archive of nearly 300,000 pieces of glass. This was the glass used by Tiffany Studios to create their art. You can learn how Tiffany artworks were made. The original Tiffany Studios were once located nearby in Corona, Queens.
The Famous Panorama of the City of New York
The Panorama of the City of New York is the most famous exhibit at the Queens Museum. It was made for the 1964 World's Fair. It's a giant model of New York City.
This amazing model is about 9,335 square feet. It shows every single building built before 1992 in all five boroughs. It's built at a scale where 1 inch equals 100 feet. A team of 100 people worked for three years to build it. The model has 273 sections and shows 895,000 buildings!
The Panorama was very popular at the 1964 Fair. Millions of people paid 10 cents to take a 9-minute "helicopter ride" around the city.
After the fair, the Panorama stayed open. It was updated several times. In 1992, over 60,000 buildings were changed to make it current.
The museum plans to keep updating the Panorama regularly. You can even donate money to have a model of a newer building added to the map!
The original "helicopter" rides are gone now. Instead, you can walk on ramps and an elevated walkway around the Panorama. This lets you see the model up close. Tiny model airplanes still take off and land at LaGuardia Airport on the map.
The New York City Panorama has even been in movies and books. The Queens Museum also hosts a fun trivia contest called the "Panorama Challenge." People use the model to find different New York City landmarks.
There's also a smaller model of the 1964 World's Fair site itself. It shows all the buildings from that time.
The New York City Water Supply Map
A Huge Map of Our Water System
For the 1939 World's Fair, a huge map of the New York City Water Supply System was created. This map shows where New York City gets its water. It was made by a team of map builders starting in 1938.
The map is 540 square feet, which was too big for the fair at first. It finally went on public display ten years later in Manhattan.
Bringing the Map Back to Life
By the early 2000s, the map was in bad shape. It was stored in 27 pieces. In 2006, the map was sent away to be fixed. Experts worked for 18 months to clean it and restore it. They removed over 70 years of dirt and old paint.
They used old road maps and satellite images to fix parts that were missing. Now, the map looks like it did when it was first made. It's on display at the Queens Museum for everyone to see. It helps us understand where our drinking water comes from.
World's Fair Memorabilia Gallery
This exhibit is on the second floor of the Queens Museum. It shows many items from both the 1939 and 1964 World's Fairs. These fairs were held right here in Flushing Meadows–Corona Park. The museum building is the only building left from both of those big events.
The museum has over 10,000 items from the fairs in its online collection. You can see a smaller model of the 1964 New York World's Fair site here too. It's under a clear dome, and each building has a small flag with its name.
Learning and Community at the Museum
Connecting with the Community
Each year, about 200,000 people visit the Queens Museum. Visitors come from all over New York City and beyond. Queens is a very diverse place, with people from many different cultures. The museum's visitors reflect this amazing diversity.
More than half of the homes in Queens are run by people born outside the United States. Over 150 languages are spoken in Queens! The museum welcomes everyone. In 2020, the Queens Museum made admission free for all visitors.
Programs for All Ages
The Queens Museum offers many learning programs for both kids and adults. They have film screenings, dance performances, and music events. They also host public discussions about their exhibits. These programs help people understand the art and history in new ways.
The museum also lets outside groups rent some of its spaces for their own events.
Fun Public Events
The Public Events Department at the Queens Museum started in 2002. Since then, more and more people have been visiting the museum. They host many fun events for the public to enjoy.
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