1960 Russian Manhattan, New York City City Plan

A mysterious c. 1960 Russian-language map of Manhattan, New York City. The origin of the map is unclear, but it may have been produced to coincide with Nikita Khrushchev's visit to the United States, including a stop in New York, in September 1959.

A Closer Look

Oriented towards the northeast, the entirety of Manhattan along with portions of the Bronx, Queens, Brooklyn, and New Jersey are included. Red outlined illustrations refer to museums, universities, sports stadiums, housing complexes, and other important public venues and attractions, many of which are accompanied by a number corresponding to a list at bottom. Wall Street is indicated by a bag of money. A football player at Yankee Stadium serves as a reminder that the Giants played there from 1956 to 1973, before moving to East Rutherford, New Jersey. Some individual neighborhoods are labeled, such as the Lower East Side (Нижняя Восточная Сторона) and Harlem (Гарлем).

Khrushchev's 1959 Visit to the U.S.A.

Between September 15 - 27, 1959, Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev undertook a state visit to the United States at the invitation of President Dwight Eisenhower. Both leaders were eager to turn down the temperature on the Cold War and avoid the potential of nuclear conflict. Khrushchev and the Soviet delegation were also intent on using the American media frenzy over the trip to make the case for the superiority of the Soviet system over American capitalism.

Though he publicly thanked host cities and local politicians wherever he went, the always feisty Khrushchev also complained about not interacting with regular people ('workers'), engaged in impromptu debates on the virtues of socialism, and cast exaggerated scorn at American cities (after touring the Empire State Building he commented: 'If you've seen one skyscraper, you've seen them all'). Nevertheless, the trip was important in creating a basis for détente between the two superpowers, the Cuban Missile Crisis a few years later notwithstanding.

Publication History and Census

Based on the sites noted, with the most important being the distinctive Guggenheim Museum building completed in 1959, this map was most likely produced in 1959 or 1960. It does not appear to have an obvious military or intelligence use, more closely resembling a tourist map instead. There are no other known examples of this map in institutional collections or on the market.