Empty Sky (memorial) facts for kids
Empty Sky is the official New Jersey September 11 memorial to the state's victims of the September 11 attacks on the United States. It is located in Liberty State Park in Jersey City at the mouth of Hudson River across from the World Trade Center site. Designed by Jessica Jamroz and Frederic Schwartz, it was dedicated on Saturday, September 10, 2011, a day before the tenth anniversary of the attacks.
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Design
The design was chosen by unanimous vote of the Families and Survivors Memorial Committee, out of 320 qualified entries in the international design competition. The memorial is dedicated to 746 New Jerseyans killed in the World Trade Center in 1993 and in the September 11 attacks, as well as those who died on September 11, 2001, at the Pentagon and in Shanksville, Pennsylvania. The New Jersey 9/11 Memorial Foundation has stated that the goal of this memorial is to "reflect the legacies of those whose lives were lost, that their unfulfilled dreams and hopes may result in a better future for society. Their unique qualities and characteristics enriched our lives immeasurably and through this memorial, their stories live on. The memorial includes twin walls, transecting a "gently sloped mound anchored by a granite path that is directed toward Ground Zero. Two 30-foot (9.1 m)-high rectangular towers stretch 208 feet 10 inches (63.65 m) long—the exact width of the World Trade Center towers, the proportion of the walls a symbolic representation of the buildings as if they were lying on their sides. The name of each of the 746 victims is etched in stainless steel in 4-inch (10 cm) letters. A granite passage is oriented to face the site of the twin towers. The name of the memorial is taken from the Bruce Springsteen song "Empty Sky", which is about the "empty sky" where the towers once stood.
Frederic Schwartz, who co-authored the design with Jessica Jamroz, stated that he "listened to the needs and aspirations of the victims' relatives, friends and co-workers," and did not arrive "with a preconceived aesthetic approach." Schwartz who, along with Jamroz, also created The Rising, the Westchester County, New York September 11 memorial, stated that "You start over each time. ... You do serious research, delve into the site, into the problem."
Some observers noted that the memorial is "reminiscent of Maya Lin's Vietnam War memorial in Washington," with its walls filled with names, listed within easy reach and engraved deeply enough to make hand rubbings possible, but one of the many differences between that design and this one will be the way the memorial visually connects New Jersey with the skyline of New York - with the memorial walls symbolic of the felled twin towers across the Hudson River.
Construction
Funding for the memorial was provided by the state, the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, and the New Jersey Building Association.
Construction bids twelve million dollars higher than the projected cost of the memorial (due to the international spike in the price of stainless steel) resulted in a construction delay in 2007.
Construction began in May 2009, with a push to complete the memorial by August 15, 2011, in time for its scheduled September 11, 2011 dedication. Although the inside of the walls remained stainless steel, changes to the original design include a plan to use "architecturally finished concrete" for the outside surfaces, so that it will look more attractive than the "flat, drab coating of most concrete finishes."
Dedication
Dedication ceremonies took place September 10, 2011 and were attended by a number of notable political figures, including Governor Chris Christie of New Jersey, five former governors of the state, presidential advisor John O. Brennan, Senators Frank Lautenberg and Robert Menendez and family members of those whose names are inscribed on the monument.
See also
In Spanish: Cielo vacío (monumento) para niños
