Gulliver’s Gate

“Anything one man can imagine, other men can make real.”Jules Verne, Around the World in Eighty Days

Jonathan Swift’s Gulliver traveled the miniature world in 1726. Nearly 150 years later, Phileas Fogg bets the Bank of England that he can travel the world in a mere 80 days. The task seems possible now, but at a time when the available modes of transportation were steamboats, trains, and hot air balloons, it was an unreachable dream. And yet, under circumstances concerning health, finances, and time, it remains an impossible feat for some.

In Times Square, the heart of New York City, these two works cross over the fiction world and into our reality in an exhibit called Gulliver’s Gate. Though its name suggests to have only been born from the mind of Jonathan Swift, it leaves traces of the concepts from Jules Verne’s Around the World in Eighty Days.

Gulliver’s Gate is a physical representation of the world in miniature, 3-dimensional form. It’s a more sophisticated version of Lego World, to put it in another way.  If you ever find yourself wanting to travel the world but can’t, then consider paying Gulliver’s Gate a visit.

The world is split up into four parts with its own section: the Cultures of Asia, Latin America, Islam, and Hebrew; the cities of New York and New England, and the countries of Western Europe. Each exhibit features interactive keys which you can use to activate a certain action: Zeus erupts in Mount Vesuvius in Greece, a helicopter begins its lifts off from its helipad in urban exhibits, and boats sail on the Nile River in Egypt.

If you pick up a brochure from the front desk, you can partake in a scavenger hunt. The designers have placed Easter eggs of modern popular culture, such as the Tardis from Dr. Who, the ever-alluring Loch Ness Monster, and Santa Claus with his reindeer flying on the night sky in snowy Moscow.

The attention to detail in each city warrants the audience of anyone who appreciates the world and its cultures, art, and technology. In fact, on Sunday, October 8, they were met with their largest crowd as swarms of people lined outside of the venue, almost taking up the entire block. “I have never seen a line form outside in the entire time I’ve been here,” says the resident artist. He’s one of many employed artists responsible for creating and fixing any structures that have unfortunately met their demise, or have encountered any prying hands, which is discouraged by the staff.

While children responded well to the tiny cities and enjoyed their use of the keys, a few adults expressed their indifference. In Jerusalem, a woman commented how it failed to capture the beauty of the city, “It doesn’t measure up to the real city.” So if you’ve actually traveled the world, then perhaps Gulliver’s Gate isn’t for you. But if you still appreciate creativity and hard work, then give it a try.

It’s interactive, engaging, far less expensive than actually traveling the world, and takes up only two hours of your day, depending on how long you want to stay or when they decide to kick you out.  It’s an epic experience on a minuscule scale.