Trade Treasure and Travel at Cortland Street Station

Artist: Margie Hughto

Commissioner: MTA Arts & Design

Date: Installed, 1997

These ceramic relief tiles by Margie Hughto, depicting trade at Cortlandt St.'s old ferry landing, miraculously survived the destruction of the World Trade Center (right above the station) on 9/11. They were reinstalled in the station's passageway where it connects to the Fulton St. Transit Center. An MTA Arts for Transit project.

"I thought about all the different peoples, products, objects, and moneys that passed through this area," Hughto says, "and I envisioned a treasure vault filled with coins, gems, and artifacts-- rich, golden, glowing, and somewhat mysterious." The artist's interpretation of this vision is a complex, glittering panorama of twelve interconnected ceramic tile relief murals in different sizes and shapes, ranging from three to 30 feet in length. The murals are decorated with a panoply of objects symbolizing centuries of worldwide exploration and trade on land and sea....buffalo nickels, ancient coins, keys, natural and mythological creatures, a huge rose compass based on an ancient celestial chart, [and a view of the skyline of Manhattan.