In New York City's Central Park, a mysterious sculptural owl and bat keep watch as you enter the Bethesda Terrace. A masterpiece of 19th-century architecture designed by Calvert Vaux and Jacob Wrey Mould, the Terrace features elaborately-carved piers stuffed with iconography of 19th-century cosmology — nature, art, science, and love. Though it is mid-afternoon, these two creatures are guardians of the Night. But maybe you don’t want to hang around till then.

06.27.23