The Memorial Park honors the victims of the terrorists’ attacks
by celebrating life with a Memorial Theater that is both a place of quiet contemplation
and a creative background to live performances.
Among the very highest honors awarded to an Athenian citizen was the right to have his or
her name inscribed upon a seat in the city’s theater. Politicians, generals and others of
distinction were granted the privilege by which generations that followed could read and
remember the names of those who had contributed so mightily to their community... Let
those who perished communally... be honored through a never-ending chorus of the living.
A theater filled with exhilarated and inspired, entertained and contemplative Americans
encircled in one of the oldest architectural forms given to us by those who invented
democracy itself. [1]
Each of the nearly 3,000 victims’ names is inscribed on a seat of the theater. Aisles
radiate out to the footprints of the original World Trade Center towers designating areas
for quiet visitation and contemplation. Between the tower footprints and adjacent to the
main entrance, the surviving bronze orb sculpture sits on an elevated plaza as a symbol of
enduring strength. Surrounding the orb, crystalline skylights illuminate the final
resting-place below for the unidentified remains from the World Trade Center site. Arbors
identify the original tower footprints, extending along two sides of the towers to provide
plantings and shade during summer and protective cover during winter.
[1] Connelly, Joan Breton, “Let’s Look To Ancient Forms For a Memorial”, Wall Street Journal, 10/17/02.