The Alice in Wonderland sculpture in Central Park, New York City

© Diego Grandi/Shutterstoc

'Alice' still enchants. A little bit of Wonderland in New York City

This statue of Alice in Wonderland is found on the east side of New York’s Central Park, near 75th Street. It was commissioned in 1959 by a philanthropist whose late wife had enjoyed reading ‘Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland’ to their children. The children’s book was first published on this day in 1865, a work by the English writer Charles Lutwidge Dodgson, who wrote under the pseudonym Lewis Carroll. His story of a little girl who falls through a rabbit hole into a fantasy world was inspired by a real girl, Alice Liddell, and it went on to become a classic, inspiring films, television shows, and artwork like this.