Surrounding that memorial will be a ring of commercial towers — eventually to be filled with workers, commuters, shoppers, tourists, the full cacophony of New York City.
The Victims of Gun Violence Group and Svigals and Partners met to discuss plans for the upcoming community meeting surrounding the memorial reflection garden.
They begin in a circle, surrounding the memorial's granite fountain like a mandala before pouring outward to taper to a point at the park's tip.
Surrounding the memorial, three granite benches are engraved with the flight numbers of the commandeered planes, and tall grasses recall the field in Shanksville, Pa., where United Flight 93 crashed.
The site is still chaotic, but the part of the plaza surrounding the memorial fountains — which are set within the spaces once occupied by the foundations of the Twin Towers and were designed by Michael Arad and Peter Walker — is already one of the city's most popular tourist destinations.
Sectarian graffiti was daubed on the memorial and the stones surrounding the memorial were scattered across the road.
The pomp and ceremony surrounding the memorial was fitting for a performer known for his exhilarating stage shows.
In 1931, Will Longstaff painted Ghosts of Vimy Ridge, depicting ghosts of men from the Canadian Corps on Vimy Ridge surrounding the memorial, though the memorial was still several years away from completion.
What must visitors think when they see the decay surrounding the memorials meant to remind us all of the principles and values our country's founders fought to achieve?
Although the Boer War encouraged a shift away from memorials portraying heroic commanding officers, as had been popular earlier in the 19th century, towards depicting ordinary soldiers, annual ceremonies surrounding the memorials were not common and no official memorial day emerged.
An aura of inevitability surrounded the memorial even before the legislation to build it had been signed.
