About Rockefeller Center Christmas Tree
The tradition began in 1931, while Rockefeller Center was still being built: construction workers put up a 20-foot balsam fir on the site and decorated it with strings of cranberries, paper garlands and a few tin cans. In 1933 the center put up its first official tree, 50 feet tall, and lit it in a public ceremony. Since then a tree has stood every Christmas on the plaza above the sunken Lower Plaza, between Fifth Avenue and 30 Rockefeller Plaza, and the lighting, on the Wednesday after Thanksgiving or close to it, is broadcast live across the United States.
The tree is almost always a Norway spruce, usually between 69 and 100 feet (21–30 m) tall; the tallest, in 1999, was 100 feet. The 2026 tree is a 76-foot Norway spruce of about 75 years, donated from West Edmeston in central New York, cut on 5 November and brought to Manhattan on 7 November. It carries more than 50,000 multicoloured LEDs on about five miles of wire, and on top sits the Swarovski star designed by the architect Daniel Libeskind in 2018, with 70 spikes and three million crystals, weighing 900 pounds. When the season is over the tree is milled into lumber and given to Habitat for Humanity, as it has been since 2007.
Below the tree lies the Rink at Rockefeller Center, which opened on Christmas Day 1936 and turns 90 this season. Above the ice, against the granite wall at the west end, Paul Manship’s gilded bronze Prometheus of 1934 falls through a ring of zodiac signs, bringing fire to mankind. From Fifth Avenue the Channel Gardens lead down to the plaza between La Maison Française and the British Empire Building, and at Christmas they are lined with twelve lit wire herald angels, made by Valerie Clarebout and first shown in 1955, raising their trumpets towards the tree. Nearly 200 flagpoles ring the plaza.
Behind the tree rises 30 Rockefeller Plaza, finished in 1933, the 850-foot (259 m) Art Deco slab of limestone at the heart of the complex. Over its entrance is Lee Lawrie’s gilded relief Wisdom, and the Top of the Rock observation decks are at its summit. It is the home of NBC, whose live broadcast of the tree lighting has become a fixture of the American Christmas.
The diorama
The diorama sets the plaza on a snowy floating island, built in Three.js and rendered as pixel art: the scene is drawn at a low resolution, every edge gets a dark outline, the colours are reduced to a small palette, and the result is scaled up without smoothing. At the front, yellow cabs, cars and a bus run south down Fifth Avenue. From there the Channel Gardens lead west between two low buildings with shops and roof gardens, with six granite planters of little lit firs down the middle and the wire angels on either side, trumpets raised.
The garden steps go down to the sunken plaza, where skaters glide in loops on the rink, two spin in place and diners look out from restaurant windows in the walls. At the far end Prometheus lies in his fountain basin against the granite wall, and on the plaza level above him stands the tree, a tall Norway spruce with drooping branches, a dusting of snow and multicoloured bulbs, crowned with a burst of crystal spikes for the Swarovski star. Flags ring the plaza, crowds lean on the railings, and behind it all rises 30 Rock with its setbacks, the gilded Wisdom over the door and the sign at the top. At night the bulbs twinkle, the star blazes and the tower is floodlit.
Things to spot
- Two skaters spinning in place in the middle of the rink
- The gilded Prometheus in his fountain at the end of the rink
- The wire angels with their trumpets in the Channel Gardens
- A crowd leaning on the railing to watch the skaters below
- Yellow cabs and a bus heading down Fifth Avenue
- The red light on the roof of 30 Rock
What we simplified
- 30 Rockefeller Plaza is cut to about half of its real 259 metres, and the tree is drawn larger, so that both fit in the frame.
- About 36 flags ring the plaza instead of nearly 200, and the buildings around the plaza and along the Channel Gardens are kept low so they don’t hide the rink.
- The Channel Gardens are shortened, with six planters, and the distance from Fifth Avenue to the tree is compressed.
- The snow is added for the winter look; New York is often snowless at Christmas.
Questions
When is the Rockefeller tree lighting 2026?
The 2026 Rockefeller Center Christmas Tree Lighting is on Wednesday 2 December 2026, broadcast live from 7 p.m. Eastern Time. After that the tree is lit every day until 9 January 2027, and for 24 hours on Christmas Day.
How tall is the Rockefeller Christmas tree?
The 2026 tree is a 76-foot (23 m) Norway spruce, about 75 years old and about 50 feet wide. Rockefeller Center trees are usually between 69 and 100 feet tall; the tallest, in 1999, was 100 feet.
Where does the 2026 Rockefeller Christmas tree come from?
It comes from West Edmeston, a town in central New York State, about 200 miles north of Manhattan, where it was cut on 5 November and trucked to Rockefeller Center for arrival on 7 November. After the season it will be milled into lumber and donated to Habitat for Humanity.
Can you go ice skating under the Rockefeller Christmas tree?
Yes. The Rink at Rockefeller Center, which opened on Christmas Day 1936, lies right below the tree. The 2026–27 season runs from 10 October 2026 to 27 March 2027, and tickets are timed, so it is best to book ahead for December.
How was this pixel-art diorama of the Rockefeller Center Christmas tree made?
It is a real-time Three.js scene running on this page, drawn at 360 × 640 pixels with dark outlines and a small palette, then scaled up without smoothing. The tree, the rink, Prometheus, the angels and 30 Rock are built from code, and the skaters, cabs and crowds move. Press “Explore in 3D” to drag it round and switch between day, dusk and night.
Isometric maps of New York
New York also has 3 isometric pixel-art maps made by the community: the whole city drawn tile by tile in the same SimCity-like style. See the maps of New York →
