This lamp, at the Central Park entrance at 5th Avenue and East 60th Street, was donated by Hamburg, West Germany in 1979 and is a replica of an ornate lamp found in Hamburg at the Lombard Bridge that was first installed in 1869. The plaque reads “This Lombard Lamp is presented to the people of New York City and by the people of the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg so that it may forever brighten a bridge of friendship in human relations, trade and commerce.” It can be found at the west side of Grand Army Plaza on 5th Avenue. A second Lombard Lamp replica was donated to Chicago, which placed it in its Lincoln Square neighborhood in the same year.
The Lombards, or Langobards, were a Germanic tribe that began in southern Sweden and worked their way down into Italy in the early medieval period, becoming Italians in the process and giving their name to the northern Italian region of Lombardia. Their name, the Longobards, referred to their lengthy beards.
Check out the ForgottenBook, take a look at the gift shop, and as always, “comment…as you see fit.”
8/22/19
2 comments
It’s too bad all of the lamps in Central Park are not as beautiful as this example.
I’ll have to say, it’s one of the most attractive lampposts I’ve seen.