The “crossroads of the world” is about to get a whole lot more world to cross.
“Gulliver’s Gate” is bringing the entire planet to 44th Street. The 49,000-square-foot extravaganza being unveiled this week is designed to make you feel like the traveler of Jonathan Swift’s 1726 satire.
But instead of being tied up by tiny villagers, as Gulliver was, visitors can look forward to getting caught up in the details — taking in landmarks and international scenes from more than 100 cities, from the streets of Manhattan and the whirring cars of the German Autobahn to the snow-capped onion domes of the Kremlin.
More than 600 artists from around the world seemingly took a shrink ray to the globe, creating the world’s largest display of miniatures and packing it with interactive elements. Built for $40 million, it’s so intricately designed that you can peer into rooms at the Standard Hotel above the Highline, just as you can in real life; watch a bear cause a traffic jam in St. Petersburg, Russia; enjoy a symphony performance inside a rotating Prague concert hall and watch planes take off and land at their own custom-designed airport.
The exhibit’s creators hope that “Gulliver’s Gate,” opening Thursday, promotes a sense of joy and wanderlust in visitors, and an appreciation for international diversity.
“We really wanted to just build something that excites and amazes people at every turn,” says Michael Langer, vice president of development. “We really wanted to have a very unique experience where people can look at miniatures, interact with them, experience something you really can’t experience anywhere else.”
Langer, a native New Yorker, met the project’s CEO, Eiran Gazit, an Israeli, on a rooftop on a mountain in Costa Rica. The idea grew — or shrank — out of Gazit’s previous project, “Mini-Israel,” a 14-acre park containing scale models of sites around that country that opened in 2002. The two decided to team up to bring something even more ambitious to New York City.
Maps and telescopes will help guide you through the miniaturized world of “Gulliver’s Gate.” And while you can conceivably make your way through it in 45 minutes, you’ll want to linger on the details, which give the exhibit a “Where’s Waldo?” quality. “Gulliver’s Gate” will be a work in progress, with new things added all the time.
“Someone pointed to the model of Jerusalem and said ‘I had coffee in that cafe last week!’ ” Gazit says. “As we grow, we’ll cover more and more parts of the world.”
This is no overgrown train set: The thousands of tiny, moving features make for a world-spanning scavenger hunt. In Spain, you can watch Don Quixote crash his horse into a windmill, while an outdoor concert venue in London blasts Adele and a firing range in Sochi, Russia, pops to life with sounds and lights. Closer to home, on the Brooklyn Bridge, tourists, true to form, clog up the bike lane.
But “Gulliver’s Gate” doesn’t stop with its view of Earth — a mock-up of a potential future colony on Mars looms from the ceiling. And if the model makes you want to jump right in, you can: For about $50, you can get a body scan and print out 3-D versions of yourself to place in the display or take home.
“There are unique vignettes and stories and you can never see it all in one shot,” Langer says. “We’re constantly evolving, with the same goal in mind: educate, make people smile, show people a good time.”
Creating the models involved some miniature international diplomacy. The project used eight different teams from around the world, and each brought their own interpretations.
“I did not want an American to build Jerusalem, I did not want an Italian to build Manhattan,” Gazit says. “The reason was to keep it authentic, to keep the flavor, the sound, the humor even. Russian humor is very different from Italian humor.”
In this world, things are peaceful and calm, save for the occasional forest fire in Belgium or mummy chasing the tourists in Egypt. At a time when the country is divided politically and nationalism is on the rise around the world, that was purposeful, Gazit says.
“This is how the world could, should, would be if everyone got their way, as a happy, nonviolent, noncriminal place,” he says. “You won’t see any wars here.”
Begins previews Thursday; grand opening May 8. $36, adults; $27, children and seniors. 216 W. 44th St.; GulliversGate.com
