10 Free sights in New York City worth visiting

Trying to see at least the most important New York City landmarks can waste your entire vacation budget solely on tickets. The Empire State Building? $23. The Metropolitan Museum of Art (The Met)? 25$. The Guggenheim and Whitney Museums will cost $18 and $12, respectively. Even to see the Frick Collection, you'll be charged $18. Fortunately, you can have a great time in New York City without paying a dime, and not just by walking through the parks, riding a bike or looking at the urban landscapes from your hotel window.

African Burial Ground

The African Burial Ground is one of Lower Manhattan's most attractive sites. In recent years, the most controversial rumors concerning African Burial Ground have been constantly circulating. This landmark appeared completely by accident: while digging a construction excavation in 1991, a burial of black slaves - more than four hundred coffins - was unearthed here. The graves date back to the dark days when there were more slaves in New York than anywhere else in the United States (not counting Charleston, South Carolina). From the outside you can see part of the cemetery against a backdrop of modern buildings. You can also stop by the small visitor center at the African Burial Ground. The center has done a tremendous job of promoting African-American history in America's largest metropolis.

Central Park

It's unlikely that the information about free admission to New York's Central Park will be a revelation to you - admission is free, as it is in most parks. The only difference is that most of the other parks are not Central Park, Manhattan's most famous place. Even though this park area was laid out in 1860 solely to raise real estate prices for the prestigious borough of New York City. Today Central Park is an endless stream of free events, statues, interesting people and places like Strawberry Fields and the mosaic for the Beatles' song "Imagine" at the site of John Lennon's 1980 murder outside the Dakota Building. Another interesting site, the Pond, is in the southeast corner of Central Park, where Holden Caulfield wandered when he found himself "over the chasm in the rye" (the hero of Salinger's novel). Here Caulfield tried to figure out where the ducks from the park go in winter (the answer to this question, by the way, can be found on lonelyplanet in a video dedicated to New York's Central Park).

Chelsea Galleries

Chelsea is the neighborhood with the largest number of galleries per unit of New York City square footage. Art exhibits are predominantly located in the 20th Street area: between 10th and 11th Avenues. You can see a list of galleries at westchelseaarts.com or in the Gallery Guide. Everything is free; no one will make you buy anything. And if you plan an excursion into the art world on a Thursday evening, you might as well catch one of the wine and cheese tastings.

Federal Hall

Two USA presidents were inaugurated here, starting with the first "Dabya" George Washington ("Dabya" is a nickname for Washington and others with the initials G.W., such as George Walker Bush. The word emphasizes the peculiar Texas pronunciation of the letter "W" in the initials). George Washington was sworn in at Federal Hall in 1789, when New York City still held the title of the first capital of the United States. (The second president was Chester A. Arthur). By Federal Hall stands a pedestal with a statue of Washington "looking out" at the New York Stock Exchange on the opposite side of Wall Street. Nearby is a small, recently restored museum with post-colonial-style interiors.

National Memorial of General Ulysses S. Grant

The Gen. Ulysses S. Grant National Memorial. Grant, also called "Grant's Tomb," a $600,000 granite structure. The remains of the 18th president and U.S. Civil War hero Ulysses S. Grant (and his wife Julia). The design of America's largest mausoleum is copied from the exterior of the Mausoleum of Halicarnassus.

Green-Wood Cemetery

Green-Wood Cemetery is the most visited (after Niagara Falls) tourist attraction in America. Founded in 1838, the cemetery was the last resting place for more than 600,000 people (if you add up the bodies of those buried here in rows, it's about 530 miles long). There is a lot of greenery and always a quiet, pleasant atmosphere. There's also the highest point of Brooklyn (Battle Hill), a part of the Empire State memorial. A seven-foot statue of Minerva, the ancient Roman goddess of wisdom, adorns the top of the hill. Observe the green long-tailed parrots at the Gothic entrance to Green-Wood Cemetery, where they escaped from the Kennedy assassination anniversary in 1980 and have lived ever since.

High Line Park

The High Line has been declared a parkland, from which the absence of entrance fees seems to logically follow. But, at the same time, the High Line landscaping project is growing in scope, and park hours are already being instituted. The High Line was once just an abandoned section of railroad elevated thirty feet above grade. This road connected the Meatpacking District to the Chelsea Galleries (another free New York City attraction), and soon the parkland will reach the Javits Convention Center at the southern end of Hell's Kitchen. The High Line overlooks the Hudson River and the pedestrians scurrying under the viaduct. In the park, you can admire public art installations and witness various community events.

New York Public Library

Remember the Dewey Decimal Classification? You have a chance to remember it at the New York Public Library, New York City's most famous library (the library building is also called the Stephen A. Schwartzman House), which has celebrated its centennial anniversary since opening in 1911. The library is housed in a work of architecture just east of Times Square. In front of the main facade are marble lions with the names Fortitude and Patience. In the library halls you have to walk around with your jaw hanging down. There's a reading room for half a thousand people, lit by the original Carre-and-Hastings antique lamps. The New York Public Library also has permanent exhibitions, where you can see a copy of the original Declaration of Independence, the Gutenberg Bible and a collection of old maps (431,000 items). Free tours are offered at 11 a.m. and 2 p.m. Monday through Saturday, and 2 p.m. on Sundays (the library is closed on Sundays in the summer).

National Museum of the American Indian

The National Museum of the American Indian operates under the auspices of the Smithsonian. It is located next to Brooklyn's historic Bowling Green Office Building and Battery Park, not far from the Statue of Liberty. Despite this proximity, the museum attracts fewer tourists than nearby attractions. The exhibits are housed in the former U.S. Customs building (date of construction: 1907). The National Museum has one of the best collections of Indian art in all of America. The visitor's attention is focused more on the culture of the indigenous peoples of the continent, rather than on their history. On this basis the unique collection with more than a million exhibits was chosen.

Rockefeller Center Art Show

Built during the Great Depression in the 1930s, the 22-acre sprawling Rockefeller Center isn't just the place where NBS shoots the Today Shows and they put up a huge Christmas tree in December (not to mention the $19 and $21 paid NBC tours with a climb to the Rockefeller Center observation deck). It's worth stopping by, if only to see the art exhibit. The first huge wall mural appeared here back in the 1930s. After receiving an order from Rockefeller, the famous artist Diego Rivera created the canvas "Man at a crossroads: looking uncertain, but with hope looking to the future. The magnate did not like the painting because it depicted Vladimir Lenin at a May Day demonstration in Moscow. The mural was covered with curtains, then destroyed, and today it has been replaced by more politically correct images, like Lincoln's Abe by Jose Maria Sert.