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Memorial
to mark WTC anniversary
Two
temporary memorials will be presented
By
TIMOTHY WILLIAMS
Associated Press
NEW YORK
The passage of six months since the World Trade Center attack will
be observed with a bronze sculpture damaged on Sept. 11 and with
twin columns of light beamed skyward from a spot near ground zero.
Mayor Michael
Bloomberg and Gov. George Pataki said Tuesday that Tribute
in Light, meant to evoke the destroyed towers, and The
Sphere, a sculpture that had stood in the trade center plaza,
are meant only as temporary memorials until a permanent design is
selected.
But they
give us a place to go and reflect and to pray, Bloomberg said.
The Tribute
in Light, to be installed in a vacant lot next to the trade center
complex, will consist of two searchlights sending 88 high-powered
beams of light into the night sky. The lights will be visible over
the metropolitan area beginning on Monday.
The light towers,
the brainchild of two arts organizations, will be displayed until
April 13. The estimated $10,000 worth of electricity is being donated
by Con Edison.
The visibility
will vary from night to night, but the lights will certainly appear
as tall as the towers and most nights many times taller, said
Paul Marantz, president of the company installing the lighting.
The memorial
will be illuminated until 11 p.m. It will be shut off on nights
when cloud cover could cause light to spill into nearby apartments.
The other temporary
memorial, a steel-and-bronze sculpture called The Sphere,
which weighs 5,000 pounds and is 15 feet in diameter, will be dedicated
in nearby Battery Park on Monday at 8:46 a.m. the time that
the first of two hijacked jetliners slammed into the trade center.
The Sphere,
which stood in the fountain of the trade center plaza, was gashed
and partially crushed by falling debris. It was created in 1971
by artist Fritz Koenig and was dedicated as a monument to world
peace through world trade.
The mayor said
the globe will probably serve as a centerpiece for a permanent memorial.
She was always watching them, protecting them, Kennedy
said.
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