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STRANGE RUSSIAN GIFT - WTC 'TEAR DROP MONUMENT' - TO THE STRUGGLE AGAINST WORLD TERRORISM - 5 - BASE
The monument displayed to the left, officially entitled "To the Struggle Against World Terrorism" (but also known as "The Memorial at Harbor View Park" or the "Tear Drop Memorial"), was dedicated at the northeast corner of Bayonne Peninsula in New Jersey, a gift from Russia.
The monument was the work of Russian artist Zurab Tsereteli, whose inspiration was described thusly in a brochure about the monument:
"To the Struggle Against World Terrorism" was conceived as the events of 9/11 unfolded and Russian artist Zurab Tsereteli walked the streets of Moscow. Struck by the outpouring of grief he observed, a memorial with an image of a tear formed in his mind. Shortly after the attacks, Tsereteli visited ground zero and looked to New Jersey's waterfront for an appropriate site for a monument honoring victims of the World Trade Center terrorist attacks.
Bayonne was a fitting location; the city was an arrival point for many New York City evacuees on 9/11, a staging area for rescuers, and offered a direct view of the Statue of Liberty and the former World Trade Center towers.
A gift from Tsereteli and the Russian people, the memorial is made of steel sheathed in bronze. Standing 100 feet high, its center contains a jagged tear. In it hangs a 40-foot stainless steel teardrop, representing sadness and grief over the loss of life, but also hope for a future free from terror. Etched in granite on an 11-sided base are the names of the nearly 3,000 killed in the 1993 World Trade Center bombings and terrorist attacks on Sept. 11, 2001.
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