The only place where people in Manhattan walk for leisure is in the park. And the most unusual and surrealistic place in New York City is Central Park. Unlike other parks that take a river, lake, or other landmark as the focus, Christo points out that Central Park is a man-made oasis surrounded by massive buildings. The park's landscape design by Frederick Law Olmstead and Calvert Vaux is drenched in Victorian nostalgia. The designers once proposed hiring actors in costume to portray derelicts to complete their picturesque plan.
People enter Central Park in a ceremonial way.
It is surrounded by a stone wall, and there are many entrances, each called a gate, named by the designers. It comprises 15,000 steel gates, each 15 feet tall, and 26 miles of walkway. The height of the gates is constant, but the width varies according to the width of each walkway. Attached to the upper part of each gate are saffron-colored translucent fabric panels. We're framing the space following the walkway.