U-Tant

The island has a conditionally rectangular shape measuring 70 by 20 meters (according to Google Earth ) or 61 by 30 meters (according to The New York Times ^[1] ), its area is about 2000 m² ^[2] . It is 370 meters downstream from Roosevelt Island , about 330 meters to the right bank (where UN Headquarters is located), to the left bank - about 430 meters ( State Park is located there). The island is managed by the . On U-Tant there is a small colony of eared cormorants , off the coast of the island fishermen catch a striped laurel ^[3] , although citizens are forbidden to access the island itself. According to 1998 data, the island had nine cormorant nests and two small spindle-shaped trees ^[4] . In 2003, twelve cormorant nests were known ^[5] .

On the southern part of the U-Tant, a 17-meter-high Coast Guard steel tower ^[2] with a large bright plate “17” and a Buddhist steel arch ^[6] (in the photo of 2015 destroyed) were installed.

On the site of the island there was previously a dangerous exit for granite rock, called the Manovar reef ( Man-o'-War Reef ) ^[7] .

In the 1890s, an island formed on this site. It was created by backfilling excavated during the construction of . Directly beneath the island is the Flushing subway line, originally financed by . After his death and until the end of the project in 1907, it was funded by After the appearance, the island was given the official name Belmont ^[8] .

In 1977, the island was leased to a group of followers of a neo-Hindu preacher and public figure Sri Chinmoy , who rented it from the owner - New York State . These people planted an island as much as possible, began to use it as a place for meditation, and gave it the new unofficial name of U-Tant in honor of Burmese diplomat and United Nations Secretary-General U Thant , who was a friend of Sri Chinmoy ^[9] . “There is reverent silence on the island. Silence is power. The silence of the memory of Tang will carry his ideals forward, ”said one of these followers, who wished to remain anonymous ^[10] . Over time, the new name has become more recognizable than the official ^[11] .

In 1999, ahead of the 3rd millennium, announced a competition for the best time capsule . The architectural firm proposed the installation of an obelisk of nine granite and metal plates fastened to each other with metal wire on the island of U-Tant. It would be designed in such a way that it would gradually collapse (the wire would gradually be corroded by salt water), exposing the glass core by the end of the XXX century - the actual capsule with a message to the descendants ^[12] .

In the summer of , during the next , artist and his friend entered the island under cover of night and hung a six-meter red flag with the image of two electric eels over it , declaring U-Tant a sovereign state . Returning to shore in the daylight, they were detained by the Coast Guard patrol, but were not arrested ^[13] .

• • ( Area )

• Gerard R. Wolfe. Belmont Island // The Encyclopedia of New York City / Kenneth T. Jackson, Lisa Keller, Nancy Flood. - 2. - Yale University Press, 2010 .-- 1584 p. - ISBN 0300182570 .

• U-Tant Island (English) (Burmese) on myanmars.net
• U-Tant Island on YouTube