Wednesday, March 6, 2002

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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TCU Daily Skiff © 2002