The World’s 21 Most Powerful September 11 Memorials
Designing a memorial, particularly a 9/11 memorial, can be a challenging yet extremely meaningful process for an architect, designer, or artist. The question of how to sum up the impact of an unimaginable tragedy in a single structure or sculpture has ultimately led to creatively symbolic designs that seek to honor the memories of the victims and serve as places for remembrance and meditation for those left behind. “You try to find a way to honor people,” architect Michael Arad told AD in 2021. “Obviously the deceased are not going to experience any of this but it needs to carry your memories of them.”
Following the tragic events on September 11, 2001, many cities, both in the US and abroad, built memorials for the victims, survivors, and first responders. These symbolic designs were often years in the making, and each offers a unique vision, from large-scale installations to smaller (but no less poignant) memorials and gardens. Many of the projects have faced controversy and criticism, but they overcame the challenges and now serve as lasting parts of the cities they occupy.
In honor of the 22nd anniversary of 9/11, AD has gathered beautifully designed tributes from New York to Italy. Conceived by some of the world’s leading architects, artists, and landscape designers, each of these moving memorials is a powerful remembrance of one of America’s darkest days.
Photo: Getty Images/Bennett Raglin1/21“To the Struggle Against World Terrorism,” Bayonne, New Jersey
Set in Harbor View Park in Bayonne, New Jersey, “To the Struggle Against World Terrorism” was a gift from the Russian government created by artist Zurab Tsereteli to honor the victims of the 1993 and 2001 attacks. Dedicated in 2006, the 100-foot-tall sculpture was constructed of steel clad in bronze. Within the dramatic center rift hangs a 40-foot-long nickel-plated steel teardrop, and the monument’s base is inscribed with the names of the victims of both attacks.
Photo: Getty Images/Chris Hepburn2/21National September 11 Memorial and Museum, New York City
Architect Michael Arad designed the two massive waterfalls and reflecting pools, which sit in the footprints of the Twin Towers and are inscribed with the names of the victims of the 2001 and 1993 attacks. PWP Landscape Architecture did the landscape design for the surrounding plaza, incorporating elements such as the Survivor Tree, a Callery pear that was found at Ground Zero and rehabilitated.
Photo: Getty Images/Alex Wong3/21Pentagon Memorial, Arlington, Virginia
Age is the central thread that runs through the Julie Beckman and Keith Kaseman design. Cantilevered stainless-steel-and-granite benches—one for each of the 184 victims of the Pentagon attack—are arranged along age lines from youngest to oldest. On the western edge of the memorial, the Age Wall rises from three to 71 inches, symbolizing the range of life spans of those who were lost.
Photo: Getty Images/Jeff Swensen4/21Flight 93 National Memorial, Shanksville, Pennsylvania
Paul Murdoch Architects and Nelson Byrd Woltz Landscape Architects collaborated on the tribute to the passengers and crew of United Airlines Flight 93. The first phase of the project was dedicated on September 10, 2011, including the Memorial Plaza and walkway, the visitor’s shelter, the Wall of Names, and the hemlock grove. The visitor’s center opened in 2015, and the 93-foot-tall Tower of Voices was dedicated in 2018.
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Photo: Getty Images5/21The Rising, Valhalla, New York
Built to honor the residents of Westchester County who died on 9/11, the monument includes 109 stainless-steel rods ascending from a circular granite base and joined together at the top. Architect Frederic Schwartz, along with Jessica Jamroz, named his design after the Bruce Springsteen song released in the aftermath of the attacks.
Photo: Courtesy of GION6/21Postcards, Staten Island, New York
The first major memorial to be completed in New York City, Masayuki Sono’s poetic design, “Postcards,” consists of two soaring fiberglass structures meant to symbolize postcards to loved ones. The residents of Staten Island who died on September 11 are commemorated by the 275 granite plaques.
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Photo: Getty Images/Bloomberg7/21Empty Sky, Jersey City, New Jersey
Jessica Jamroz and Frederic Schwartz [Architects] designed New Jersey’s official memorial, “Empty Sky.” Two stainless-steel walls, each nearly 210 feet long—the width of each side of the World Trade Center towers—border a granite path looking across the water to Ground Zero. Inside the corridor, the walls are engraved with the names of the 749 New Jersey residents who were killed.
Photo: Travis Dove/The Boston Globe/Getty Image8/21Boston Logan International Airport 9/11 Memorial, Massachusetts
Dedicated in 2008, the Boston Logan International Airport 9/11 Memorial is set on 2.5 acres and was designed by local firm Moskow Linn Architects. The site features a large glass box that contains panels inscribed with the names of the passengers and crew of United Airlines Flight 175 and American Airlines Flight 11, which both took off from the airport.
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Photo: Eitan Simanor/Getty Images9/219/11 Living Memorial Plaza, Jerusalem, Israel
Artist Eliezer Weishoff designed Jewish National Fund-USA and JNF-KKL’s 9/11 Living Memorial Plaza, located 20 miles outside Jerusalem. The site includes a 30-foot-tall sculpture of an American flag that transforms into a torch at the corner. The base contains steel from the Twin Towers. The sculpture is surrounded by a circular wall with plaques listing the names of the victims.
Photo: Stuart Black/Getty Images10/21Memoria e Luce, Padua, Italy
Architect Daniel Libeskind devised “Memoria e Luce,” or Memory and Light, a tribute in the Northern Italian city of Padua. The 56-foot-tall book-shaped structure, which nods to the book in the hands of the Statue of Liberty, incorporates a piece of a steel beam from the World Trade Center, and the open pages point toward New York.
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Photo: Richard Radford/Getty Images11/21September 11 Memorial Garden, London
Set in Grosvenor Park, the September 11 Memorial Garden was dedicated in 2003 and contains three plaques paying tribute to the 67 British victims. The garden features an oak pergola and pavilion and is planted with a mix of American and British plant species such as rosemary, ivy, and phlox, each chosen for its meaning or September blooming time.
Photo: Bill Timmerman12/21“Moving Memories,” Phoenix, Arizona
Jones Studio and public art collective coLAB studio devised Arizona’s 9/11 memorial, “Moving Memories,” which is set in Phoenix’s Wesley Bolin Memorial Plaza. Sunlight illuminates 54 quotes and two timelines, which were cut into the circular steel canopy above the round concrete seating area. The canopy also has a circular opening that allows the sun to shine down on a salvaged piece of the World Trade Center at noon on September 11 each year.
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Dan Kitwood/Getty Images13/21“After 9/11,” London, England
American artist Miya Ando designed “After 9/11,” a 28-foot-tall memorial sculpture that incorporates a steel girder from the World Trade Center. The piece was given to the United Kingdom and honors the lives lost during the attack, including 67 Britons. The statue was unveiled in Battersea Park in 2011 but was removed and placed in storage less than a month later. In 2015, “After 9/11” was placed in its permanent home at Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park.
Photo: Heath Satow14/21“Reflect,” Rosemead, California
Artist Heath Satow used nearly 3,000 elements to construct “Reflect,” a memorial at Rosemead, California’s City Hall. Two hands made of thousands of stainless-steel birds hold a steel beam from the World Trade Center aloft. Each of the steel birds represents a life lost in the attack.
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Photo: Getty Images15/21Memorial Labyrinth, Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts
On September 11, 2003, Boston College dedicated a memorial labyrinth in honor of the 22 alumni killed on 9/11. The stone labyrinth, located on the lawn of the Burns Library, is modeled after a 13th-century version at the Chartres Cathedral in France.
Photo: Getty Images16/21“The Sphere,” New York City
For 30 years, German artist Fritz Koenig’s “The Sphere” stood in Austin J. Tobin Plaza in the middle of the World Trade Center. The sculpture was damaged in the 2001 attacks but remained intact and was moved to Battery Park along with an eternal flame in 2002. After a yearslong battle over whether it should return to the World Trade Center site, “The Sphere” was given a permanent home in Liberty Park in 2017.
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Photo: Stephen Chernin/Getty Images17/21“Trinity Root,” West Cornwall, Connecticut
Artist Steve Tobin cast the stump and root system of the Sycamore tree that protected St. Paul’s Chapel during the attack to create “Trinity Root.” The bronze sculpture was placed in the Trinity Church yard in 2005, but in 2015, the Church moved it to a conference center in West Cornwall, Connecticut. The sculpture was damaged in the move, prompting a lawsuit from the artist, which he lost in 2018.
Photo: Gary Hershorn/Getty Images18/21Jersey City 9/11 Memorial, Jersey City, New Jersey
Set on the waterfront near Exchange Place, the Jersey City 9/11 Memorial consists of three steel girders from the World Trade Center, as well as a black granite slab listing the names of the 37 Jersey City residents killed in the attack. Also on the site is “Makeshift Memorial,” a sculpture by J. Seward Johnson, whose work “Double Check” was found in the rubble. He cast some of the mementos left at the sculpture in bronze to recreate the formerly ephemeral tribute.
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Photo: Getty Images19/21“Recovering Equilibrium,” Los Angeles, California
Set within the Space Age–style Theme Building at the Los Angeles International Airport, “Recovering Equilibrium” is a memorial to the victims of 9/11, particularly the passengers and crew on the hour flights—three of which were bound for Los Angeles. Artists BJ Krivanek and Joel Breaux of Krivanek+Breaux/ Art+Design utilized an existing fountain for the design, which was installed in 2003 and features a mirrored dish inscribed with traits of the victims surrounded by a ring of core American rights and ideals.
Photo: Getty Images20/219/11 Garden of Remembrance, Boston, Massachusetts
The 9/11 Garden of Remembrance is located near Arlington Street in Boston Public Garden and provides a quiet area for contemplation. Landscape architect Victor Walker designed the garden, which was dedicated in 2004 and features a small plaza with benches, plants, and a pink granite memorial inscribed with 206 names of victims from or with ties to the state and New England. In 2014, a sapling cultivated from the Survivor Tree at Ground Zero was planted beside the memorial.
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Photo: Henk Meijer/Alamy21/21Tribute in Light, New York City
The Municipal Art Society of New York and Creative Time’s installation of 88 searchlights—conceived by John Bennett, Gustavo Bonevardi, Richard Nash Gould, Julian Laverdiere, and Paul Myoda with lighting consultant Paul Marantz—initially ran from March 11 through April 14, 2002, to mark the six-month anniversary of the attacks. The simple yet powerful design is re-created annually on September 11.
