HEADQUARTERS OF THE UNITED NATIONS

Description

Essentials about the Headquarters of the United Nations in brief

It’s probably not one of the most beautiful buildings in New York City, but it’s certainly one of the most striking and also most important: the United Nations Headquarters on the banks of the East River. If you are interested in international affairs and have always wanted to visit the premises so often seen on the TV news, you should definitely take a guided tour of the UN headquarters.

The history of the Headquarters of the United Nations

After the end of World War II, the United Nations was looking for a site for its new headquarters in New York City. The original plan was to use the site of the 1939 World’s Fair in Flushing Meadows Park in Queens. But when a real estate development project called X-City on the eastern edge of Manhattan fell through, John D. Rockefeller Jr. bought the seven-acre site and donated it to the United Nations. The entire area was declared an international territory, making it officially not part of the United States.

The design of the entire site was a collaborative effort of an international committee of architects (the United Nations Board of Design), which included a number of star international architects such as Oscar Niemeyer and Le Corbusier. The members of the board opted for the International Style to signal a new beginning after the war. After lengthy discussions, they decided on a layout with four buildings: the Secretariat, the General Assembly, the Conference Building and the Dag Hammerskjöld Library.

The building complex of the Headquarters of the United Nations

As the largest of the four buildings, the Secretariat is the seat of the UN administration. The huge, 166-meter-high block with its 39 floors has become a symbol of the United Nations worldwide. Construction of the Secretariat began in 1949 and was completed in 1950. The entire complex was not completed until two years later.

Next to the Secretariat skyscraper, the adjacent General Assembly building seems almost tiny, although it is actually the most important part of the complex: The General Assembly Hall holds 1,800 people and is the meeting place for representatives of all UN member states. The Conference Building behind the Secretariat and the General Assembly houses the Security Council and the Economic and Social Council.

Adjacent to the UN facility, a small public park borders the East River. It is dotted with artwork donated from various countries. In front of the UN headquarters, the flags of each member state are strung along First Avenue – starting with Afghanistan on 48th Street and ending with Zimbabwe on 42nd Street.