Indianapolis: speed and monuments

Designed from scratch in the nineteenth century around a European-style central plaza, Indianapolis also hosts the world's oldest still-active automobile racing track, home to the historic Indy 500.

The center is easily walked, while the track requires a short car ride.

The Indianapolis Motor Speedway, opened in 1909, hosts the oldest open-wheel car race in the world every May, and its onboard museum displays more than thirty winning vehicles from past editions.

Monument Circle, the exact point from which the city's street grid radiates outward, is dominated by the Soldiers and Sailors Monument, a limestone obelisk taller than the Statue of Liberty when the pedestal is excluded.

The White River State Park, urban park along the river of the same name, brings together a zoo, a museum dedicated to Native American culture and a glass-enclosed botanical garden within the same space.

The Indianapolis Cultural Trail, a pedestrian and cycling route over thirteen kilometers long completed in 2012, connects the city's main cultural neighborhoods with public art installations throughout its entire course.

The Soldiers and Sailors Monument, visible from much of downtown, serves almost as a city compass, in the same way that the Speedway track remains the reference point whenever Indianapolis is mentioned elsewhere in the world.

The Cultural Trail, far more recent than both, shows instead a city that has continued to invest in its public spaces well beyond the legacy of racing.