The George Washington Bridge
• Columbia University Medical Center and Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons, the medical campus and school, respectively, of Columbia University are located in the Heights.
cultural site and tourist attraction in Washington Heights. Located in Fort Tryon Park at the northern end of the neighborhood, with spectacular views across the Hudson to the New Jersey Palisades*, this branch of the Metropolitan Museum of Art is devoted to Medieval art and culture. Endowed by the Rockefeller Foundation, the Cloisters is a medieval-style building. Actual medieval portions of the building were purchased in Europe, shipped to the United States, and reassembled. • The Paul Robeson Home is a National Historic Landmark building known for its famous African American residents including actor Paul Robeson, musician Count Basie, and boxer Joe Louis.
• Parks: ► Bennett Park - the highest natural point in Manhattan. ► Fort Tryon Park - home to The Cloisters ► Fort Washington Park - home of the Little Red Lighthouse*, a small lighthouse located at the tip of Jeffrey’s Hook at the base of the George Washington Bridge. It was made famous by a 1942 children’s book. Today a festival of the same name is held there in late summer. A 5.85-mile recreational swim finishes there in early autumn. This is also a popular place to watch for peregrine falcons.
The George Washington Bridge and the Little Red Lighthouse
Unauthorised photocopying is illegal
The Cloisters
• The Hispanic Society of America, a cluster of five distinguished Beaux Arts buildings, is a little-visited museum in the Heights. However, the Society has the largest collection of works by El Greco and Goya outside of the Museo del Prado, including one of Goya’s famous paintings of Cayetana, Duchess of Alba.
Glossary lighthouse: a coastal building, often a tall round tower with a powerful flashing light to guide sailors melting pot: a society composed of many cultures palisades: a line of cliffs alongside a river plaque: commemorative tablet steep: sloping sharply
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