Editing Albany County, New York (section)

==Cityscape==
[[File:AlbanyCountyGovBldg.jpg|thumb|Albany County office building on State Street in Albany]]

===Architecture===
Albany County has myriad different architectural styles spanning centuries of development.<ref>{{cite web | title = Architecture | url= http://www.docstoc.com/docs/4936290/ARCHITECTURE-Architecture-ALBANY-COUNTY-If-architecture-is-your-passion | access-date = August 26, 2009}}</ref> Within the city of Albany alone there is Dutch Colonial (the [[Quackenbush House]]), French Renaissance (the [[New York State Capitol]]), Federal style (the original Albany Academy in Academy Park), Romanesque Revival ([[Albany City Hall]]), Art deco (the Alfred E. Smith Building), and Modern (Empire State Plaza). The cities of Albany, Cohoes, and Watervliet and the village of Green Island are more urban in architecture; while the towns of Colonie, Guilderland, New Scotland, and Bethlehem more suburban and the remaining Hilltowns (Berne, Knox, Westerlo, and Rensselaerville) very rural.

===Parks===
[[File:Robert Burns Statue in Albany, New York.jpg|thumb|A bronze statue of the famous Scottish poet Robert Burns sculpted by Charles Calverley in 1888. This structure is located in the Washington Park neighborhood of Albany, New York.]]
Albany County is home to the Emma Treadwell Thacher Nature Center, which opened in July 2001 and is near the shore of Thompson's Lake between the two state parks that are in Albany County- [[Thompson's Lake State Park]] and [[John Boyd Thacher State Park]]. There are also state-owned nature preserves with interactive educational programs such as the Five Rivers Environmental Education Center and the [[Albany Pine Bush]]. The cities, towns, and villages of Albany County have many municipal parks, playgrounds, and protected green areas. [[Washington Park (Albany, New York)|Washington Park]] in the city of Albany and The Crossing in the town of Colonie are two of the largest. There are many small hiking and biking trails and longer distance bike-hike trails such the [[Mohawk Hudson Hike/Bike Trail|Mohawk-Hudson Bike-Hike Trail]] which goes from the city of Albany north to Cohoes and then west along the Mohawk River to Schenectady County.

===Festivals===
One of the largest events in Albany County is the [[Tulip Festival (Albany, New York)|Tulip Fest]] held in the city of Albany every spring at [[Washington Park Historic District (Albany, New York)|Washington Park]]. The tradition stems from when [[List of mayors of Albany, New York|Mayor]] [[Erastus Corning 2nd]] had a city ordinance passed declaring the [[tulip]] as Albany's official flower on July 1, 1948.<ref>{{cite web | title = Albany Tulip Queen | publisher = Albany Tulip Queen.com | access-date = June 7, 2009 | url = http://www.albanytulipqueen.com/| archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20090519054142/http://www.albanytulipqueen.com/| archive-date= May 19, 2009 | url-status= usurped}}</ref> The [[African-American]] tradition of [[Pinkster]]fest, whose origins are traced back even further to Dutch festivities, was later incorporated into the Tulip Fest. The Albany LatinFest has been held since 1996 and drew 10,000 to Washington Park in 2008.<ref>{{cite web | title = About Albany Latin Fest | url = http://www.albanylatinfest.com/about.html | publisher = Albany Latin Festival | access-date = June 8, 2009 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20090616140515/http://www.albanylatinfest.com/about.html | archive-date = June 16, 2009 | url-status = dead | df = dmy-all }}</ref> PolishFest is a three-day celebration of Polish culture in the Capital District, held in the town of Colonie for the past eight years.<ref>{{cite web | title = PolishFest'09 | url = http://www.polishfest-ny.org/}}</ref>

===Amusement===
[[File:Albany Night 1.JPG|thumb|[[Albany, New York|Albany]], the county's seat and largest city]]

Albany County has two shopping malls classified as [[super-regional mall]]s (malls with over 800,000 sq ft),<ref name="ISCS_definitions-2004">[http://www.icsc.org/srch/lib/USDefinitions.pdf International Council of Shopping Centers] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090325045320/http://www.icsc.org/srch/lib/USDefinitions.pdf |date=March 25, 2009 }} Shopping Center Definitions for the U.S. Information accurate as of 2004. Retrieved February 20, 2007.</ref> [[Crossgates Mall]] in [[Guilderland, New York|Guilderland]] and [[Colonie Center]] in Colonie with over one million square feet of rentable space in each. Huck Finn's Playland is a children's amusement park open during the summer, which started operations in the Summer of 2015—after purchasing the rides from the former Hoffman's Playland in [[Newtonville, New York|Newtonville]], which was in operation from 1951 to the Fall of 2014. During the winter there are over {{convert|18|mi|km}} of official trails for snowshoeing at the [[Albany Pine Bush]] Preserve, in the city of Albany and towns of Colonie and Guilderland.<ref>{{cite web | title = Enjoy the Albany/Capital District on snowshoes | url = http://www.albany.com/winter/snowshoeing.cfm | publisher = Albany.com | access-date = June 9, 2009}}</ref>

===Museums===
Albany County has many historical sites and museums covering a wide range of topics and time periods. The [[Albany Institute of History and Art]] founded in 1791 is one of the oldest museums in the United States,<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.albanyinstitute.org/HTML/history.htm |title=The History of the Albany Institute of History from the 1700s to the Present |publisher=Albanyinstitute.org |date=June 1, 1999 |access-date=April 29, 2012 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120229200707/http://www.albanyinstitute.org/HTML/history.htm |archive-date=February 29, 2012 }}</ref> and the [[New York State Museum]] is the oldest and largest state museum in the country.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.nysm.nysed.gov/membership/ |title=Support the New York State Museum |publisher=New York State Museum |access-date=May 30, 2009 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090603205328/http://www.nysm.nysed.gov/membership/ |archive-date=June 3, 2009 }}</ref> Many of the museums are historical sites themselves, such as Cherry Hill, the [[Ten Broeck Mansion]], and the [[Schuyler Mansion]] in the city of Albany and the Pruyn House in Colonie. The [[Quackenbush House]] is the second oldest house in the city of Albany and is part of the Albany Heritage Area Visitors Center, which includes a [[planetarium]]. The Albany Pine Bush Discovery Center in the city of Albany includes hands-on activities to learn about the unique [[Albany Pine Bush|Pine Bush]] Barrens of the city of Albany and towns of Guilderland and Colonie. Covering the history of pharmacy is the Throop Drug Store Museum at the [[Albany College of Pharmacy]]. The USS Slater, DE-766 is a World War II Destroyer Escort, the last floating Destroyer Escort, owned by the Destroyer Escort Historical Museum is moored from Spring to Fall at the foot of Quay Street in the Hudson River. The ship is open for tours each week and contains an excellent and well-maintained collection of World War II US Naval artifacts.

There are several art museums in Albany County; including the [[Albany Center Gallery]], in downtown Albany, which exhibits works by local artists within a {{convert|100|mi|km|adj=on}} radius of that city;<ref>{{cite web | title = About Us | publisher = Albany Center Gallery | access-date = November 25, 2009 | url = http://www.albanycentergallery.org/about/}}</ref> the [[University at Albany, SUNY#University Art Museum at University at Albany|University Art Museum]], at the [[University at Albany, SUNY]]; and the Opalka Gallery, at the [[Sage College of Albany]]. The [[Empire State Plaza]] in Albany has one of the most important state collections of modern art in the U.S.<ref>{{cite web | title = Empire State Plaza Art Collection | publisher = New York State Office of General Services | access-date = July 24, 2012 | url = http://ogs.ny.gov/ESP/CT/Art.asp | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20120822011847/http://ogs.ny.gov/ESP/CT/Art.asp | archive-date = August 22, 2012 | url-status = dead | df = mdy-all }}</ref>

===Performing arts===
Albany County itself owns the largest venue for performing arts in the county, the [[Times Union Center]], which was originally built as the Knickerbocker Arena; it opened on January 30, 1990, with a performance by [[Frank Sinatra]].<ref>"Times Union enters a new arena". Carol DeMare. ''[[Times Union (Albany)|Times Union]]''. May 5, 2006</ref> In 1996, [[The Grateful Dead]] released a concert album from their March 1990 performances titled ''[[Dozin' at the Knick]]''.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.dead101.com/1045.htm |title=Dozin' at the Knick |publisher=Dead101.com |access-date=April 29, 2012}}</ref>

===Sports===
Many athletes and coaches in major sports have begun their careers in Albany County. [[Phil Jackson]], former [[National Basketball Association|NBA]] head coach of the [[Chicago Bulls]] and [[Los Angeles Lakers]] won his first championship ring as a coach when he guided the [[Albany Patroons]] to the 1984 CBA championship. Three years later, the Patroons completed a 50–6 regular season, including winning all 28 of their home games; at that time, [[Sacramento Kings]] head coach [[George Karl]] was the Patroons' head coach. Future NBA stars [[Mario Elie]] and [[Vincent Askew]] were part of that season's squad. [[Mike Tyson]] received his early training in the Capital District and his first professional fight was in Albany in 1985 and Tyson's first televised fight was in Troy in 1986. He fought professionally four times in Albany and twice each in Troy and Glens Falls between 1985 and 1986.

Since 1988, the [[Siena College]] men's basketball team (the [[Siena Saints men's basketball|Siena Saints]]) have appeared in six [[NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Championship|NCAA Tournaments]] ([[1989 NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Tournament|1989]], [[1999 NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Tournament|1999]], [[2002 NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Tournament|2002]], [[2008 NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Tournament|2008]], [[2009 NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Tournament|2009]], and [[2010 NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Tournament|2010]]).

===Religious life===
Albany County was originally settled primarily by Protestants from northern Europe: the Netherlands, British Isles, and Germany. In the 19th century it was a destination for many Catholic immigrants, first from Ireland – fleeing the [[Great Famine (Ireland)|Great Famine]], and later from southern Germany, central and southern Europe. Late 19th and early 20th century immigrants included Jews from eastern Europe. In addition to other Jewish congregations, the county has one of the few [[Karaite Jewish]] communities outside Israel.<ref>[http://www.tabletmag.com/jewish-life-and-religion/213816/the-jews-youve-never-heard-of/ Telushkin, S. (2016). The Jews You've Never Heard Of. ''Tablet''.]</ref> This community is active and has its own synagogue.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.orahsaddiqim.org/ |title=Orah Saddiqim website |access-date=May 25, 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090414060746/http://www.orahsaddiqim.org/ |archive-date=April 14, 2009 |url-status=usurped }}</ref> The Albany Metro Area has consistently been found to be among the highest ranking [[Postchristianity|postchristian]] cities in the US.<ref>{{cite web |title=The Most Post-Christian Cities in America: 2019 |publisher=The Barna Group |url=https://www.barna.com/research/post-christian-cities-2019/ |access-date=November 18, 2021 }}</ref>