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Bethesda Terrace and Fountain

The heart of Central Park: the angel on the fountain was the first public artwork in the city commissioned from a woman

Local name: Bethesda Terrace and Fountain, Central Park

Collection: New York · USA · Open in OpenStreetMap

Bethesda Terrace and Fountain in autumn
Bethesda Terrace and Fountain in autumn · Julian Lupyan, CC0, Wikimedia Commons

The story

Before you is Bethesda Terrace, the heart of Central Park. The park was designed by Frederick Law Olmsted and Calvert Vaux, who won the design competition in 1858. Today it covers 843 acres. To make room for the park, the residents of Seneca Village were forced out; it was a mostly African American community, and many of them owned their homes. Calvert Vaux designed the terrace, and his assistant Jacob Wrey Mould carved the railings and stairways. Go down into the arcade under the road and look up. The ceiling is lined with nearly sixteen thousand tiles from the English Minton factory. Tiles like these were usually laid on floors, and there is no other ceiling like it in the world. Its restoration took five years and was finished in 2007. Above the fountain stands a bronze angel, the Angel of the Waters. It was made by Emma Stebbins, the first woman to receive a public art commission in New York City. The fountain was dedicated in 1873. Stebbins took her subject from the Gospel of John: an angel touches the Pool of Bethesda, and its water gains the power to heal. And the fountain honors the Croton Aqueduct, which first brought the city fresh water in 1842. The lily in the angel’s hand stands for the purity of that water. The four cherubs below stand for peace, health, purity, and temperance.

Visiting

Central Park, mid-park at 72nd Street. From Fifth Avenue and 59th Street, walk north through the park and along the Mall. The park is free. Since August 2026 the fountain has been off for about a year of restoration; the terrace stays open. Check centralparknyc.org for when it is back.

Photos

Emma Stebbins’s Angel of the Waters
Emma Stebbins’s Angel of the Waters · Christian David, CC BY-SA 4.0, Wikimedia Commons
The arcade under the terrace, with its Minton tile ceiling
The arcade under the terrace, with its Minton tile ceiling · Jakub Hałun, CC BY 4.0, Wikimedia Commons

Sources

This text was written by AI from open sources. An expert will still check it. Found a mistake? Write to us. Support

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