Kapoor has described his Sky Mirror as a "non-object"

The sculpture, a giant mirrored disc made up of polished stainless steel panels, has previously been displayed at various locations in Britain.

Measuring 10 metres (33ft) in diameter and weighing 23 tons, the disc faces Manhattan's famous Rockefeller Centre at a 60 degree angle.

"Putting a work here is like putting a work in Disneyland," said the artist. "There's so much going on."

The Bombay-born artist said he had selected the site specifically for the way the Rockefeller Centre would interact with his work.

"I chose this site because I wanted a dialogue between the two," he said. "It's part of the sculpture."

The mirror's convex face reflects activity at street level

The Sky Mirror will remain in its present location for the next six weeks.

Kapoor said there were some "good conversations in progress" as to where it would be appear next. He has created a number of Sky Mirrors, the first of which was unveiled in Nottingham.

The sculptor, who won the Turner Prize in 1991 and was made a CBE in 2003, is renowned for his outsized and spectacular works.

These include Marsyas, a large work of steel and crimson PVC installed in Tate Modern's Turbine Hall, and Cloud Gate, another stainless steel sculpture situated in Chicago's Millennium Park.

Kapoor has also been commissioned to create a memorial to the British victims of the 11 September 2001 attacks on the World Trade Center.