The World’s Largest Display of Miniatures Is Coming to Times Square in 2017

Micro is all the rage in NYC right now, and currently in the works is another teensy project with designs on taking up a less-than-diminutive space in the heart of Times Square. Called Gulliver’s Gate, this miniature spectacular will showcase more than 300 buildings, 1,000-plus model trains, cars and planes, and a vast collection of 3D-printed global replicas that include Times Square, Grand Central, and lower Manhattan, to become the biggest Lilliputian installation in the world at 49,000 square feet.

According to Crain’s, Gulliver’s Gate has just signed a 15-year lease for the first and second floors of the former New York Times Building at 216 West 44th Street. The attraction, “the largest, most intricate, most technologically advanced display anywhere” according co-creator Eiran Gazit, will cost $30 million to build.

Rendering of Gulliver’s Gate (top); Model maker at Brooklyn Model Works adding details to a miniature

Gulliver’s Gate is expected to open in spring 2017 with a $30 admission price. And unlike miniature displays that ban onlookers from touching, it will be fully interactive, encouraging individuals to immerse themselves in the pygmy world. Visitors will even get the chance to scan themselves and have their likeness 3D-printed as a miniature.

The idea is not a completely new one for Gazit who has already built a 14-acre miniature Israel park in Jerusalem. But the New York edition is getting major funding from Michael Langer, a principal at real estate firm E&M Associates, while big names like Beyer, Blinder & Belle are providing consulting services. The whole project takes inspiration from Hamburg, Germany’s Miniatur Wunderland—an attraction that gets 1.3 million visitors annually, and whose success Gazit hopes to recreate.

Check out the video here to learn more:

[Via Crain’s]

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