To The Struggle Against World Terrorism – A Gift From Russia to the USA
As nations, the USA and Russia have often found themselves on different sides of various socio-political philosophies. And at times, an uneasy peace seems to exist between the two greatest nuclear powers the world has ever known. But despite all obstacles, the people of Russia reached out to Americans with a gesture of hope and kindness when President Putin dedicated an extraordinary monument as a gift in honor of those who perished in the September 11, 2001 attacks.
“To The Struggle Against World Terrorism” is a 100 foot high, bronze sculpture conceived of by Russian artist Zurab Tsereteli. Zurab is the President of the Russian Academy of Arts and Director of the Moscow Museum of Modern Art (among other things).
I suppose that only a man in a position such as this wields the necessary power to convince a government and it’s people to get behind a gift of this magnitude. Its certainly akin to the Statue of Liberty, a gift from the people of France.
The “The Tear of Grief memorial” as it’s come to be called, is located in Bayonne, New Jersey across the water, 10 miles from the site of the twin towers and within view of the Statue of Liberty. The sculpture is in the form of a 100-foot (30 m) tower made of steel and coated in bronze, split with a jagged opening through the middle.
Inside the opening hangs a large stainless-steel teardrop, 40 feet (12 m) high, in memory of those whose lives were lost during terrorist attacks in the United States. The eleven sides of the monument’s base bear granite name plates, on which are etched the names of those that died in the September 11 attacks and the 1993 World Trade Center bombing.
Tsereteli has not disclosed the cost of the sculpture except to say that he was paying for labor and materials. A lawyer for the sculptor released the cost of the figure at about $12 million. This being the case, I’m not really sure how much of the cost was born by the Russian people, vs. Tsereteli himself. But hopefully they’ll work that out in the traditional Russian fashion…
The following photos are courtesy of Joseph Hoetzl
And there are more on Flickr if you want to see them.
Here is the official Web site, but it’s quite weak so not really worth a visit at this moment.
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Thanks i tweet you!
it’s really beautifull and awesome sculture usa really have to thanks russia for this great monument I will love to see it by miselft at the time that I travel to usa this will be one of the things that I really will enjoy to watch
Possibly because the US and Russia are a little different and have a tense relationship regarding the use of the word “terrorist” – and may not (politically) agree with its use in situations such as Chechnya and Georgia etc, but on the other hand appreciate the gesture and don’t want to offend by refusing the sculpture.
You should keep in mind that this is also a way of keeping the public relations between the United States and Russia healthy of which both countries benefit from. Both Russia and the United States are dealing with terrorists, both in a different way, but this is a great way of supporting eachother.
This monument is a great gesture, and it is quite puzzling as to why it is so under-promoted. The website really doesn’t do it any justice at all either.
Reading this made for a quiet moment this morning — very moving.
Going out to the official website, I found myself wondering why the website didn’t appeal. . . As I looked though the photos (must have been *hundreds* of them), I felt sense of familiarity and wondered, “How can one man take so many pictures?” . . .
John, where is my comment? I’m not a spammer :(
I don’t know what the deal is lately, but the site is getting freakin over-run with spammers!!! Dammit! Anyway, I blacklisted their domain…
Anyway, I’m not sure why we didn’t hear more about this before now either. But perhaps it was more widely reported in the New York area and just didn’t make it’s way around the country. Who knows?
John P.
Firstly I would like to know how come imnewsdesk has hijacked my name, please ban these hacking spammers for good!
Then the statue is something that I haven’t seen or heard of before. Why are the major newscasters not making a fuss over this gift from the Rusasian people? It seems like quite a significant statement, why the quiet?