Monday 25 June 2018

9/11 Living Memorial Plaza

I have mentioned the 9/11 Living Memorial Plaza in a blog post before, but we took a visitor to see it a good few weeks ago and I decided that the beautiful memorial warranted a blog post of its own.
The 9/11 Living Memorial is a cenotaph located on a hill in the Arazim Valley, just north of the Jerusalem-Tel Aviv highway. The Hebrew word arazim means cedars, but if you look around, there are no cedar trees here. The name was given to the valley in 1923. It seems that the early Zionist pioneers who first settled this region mistook cypress trees for cedar trees.
The 9/11 Living Memorial Plaza, built on 5 acres of hillside, remembers and honours the victims of the September 11 attacks. The cenotaph is made of granite, bronze and aluminium and is in the shape of an American flag, waving and transforming into a memorial flame 6 metres high that reaches for the sky. The folded part of the flag is reminiscent of the collapse of the towers in a cloud of dust. In a glass window at the base of the cenotaph there is a metal shard from the foundation of one of the fallen Twin Towers. It is inscribed with these words in English and Hebrew: "This metal piece, like the entire monument, is a manifestation of the special relationship between New York and Jerusalem."
Memorial plaques on the wall around the plaza commemorate the names of the 2,779 victims who perished in the disaster, including five Israelis. The names of the victims are embedded on metal plates and placed on the circular wall.  It is the first and only monument outside of the United States which lists the names of all the victims of the 9/11 attacks.
The plaza is intended to be a diplomatic stop for visiting prime ministers and ambassadors and can comfortably hold 300 people for ceremonies. It was designed to echo the shape of the Pentagon and has an indentation in the floor that represents the rut created in the land where one of the planes crashed in rural Pennsylvania. 
The 9/11 Living Memorial was planned and designed over the course of eight years by landscape architect Yehiel Cohen and the award-winning artist Eliezer Weishoff, an Israeli multidisciplinary artist who has designed logos, posters and postage stamps to mark many of Israel's historic events. Other designs by Weishoff include the "Bird" sculpture for the Jewish National Fund, which can be seen at the entrance to forests and national parks, and coins for the Bank of Israel and the Israel Government Coins and Medals Corporation. This memorial was commissioned by the Jewish National Fund at a cost of ₪10 million ($2 million). The inauguration ceremony was held on 12th November 2009 with representation from the US Ambassador to Israel, James B. Cunningham, members of the Israeli Cabinet and legislature, family of victims and others.
The plaza is strategically located within view of Jerusalem's main cemetery, Har HaMenuchot. The seating is amphitheatre style and the location of the memorial, amid the Arazim Valley, is fittingly contemplative. While official ceremonies are occasionally held here, the handicapped-accessible site is free and open to tourists and locals. Israeli school children often visit the site on school trips to learn more about the terrorist tragedy that took place on American soil.
The Arazim Valley is part of Jerusalem Metropolitan Park, a 43-kilometre park being developed around the city of Jerusalem. 100 years ago the Jerusalem hills were the exclusive province of nature, which surrounded the Old City and the new city that had just begun to grow on its outskirts. Today there are still foxes prowling on the edges of Jerusalem, as well as jackals, rodents and all kinds of birds. When we visited the 9/11 Living Memorial the spring flowers were still in bloom. We spotted beautiful Pink Butterfly Orchid, or Orchis papilionacea, among the more usual collection of cyclamen, anemone and asphodels. Green organisations succeeded in halting a building development project which threatened to bury all this beauty under concrete and cement. Subsequently, an alternate plan was conceived, to develop the Jerusalem Metropolitan Park on the outskirts of the city.
The memorial to the 9/11 terrorist attack on the Twin Towers in New York fits in beautifully with the Jerusalem landscape and its location in Arazim Valley, at the approach to Jerusalem, is a very moving way to express Israel's and the United State's shared battle against terrorism.

18 comments:

Tamar SB said...

Wow - that is stunning!

Carol @Comfort Spring Station said...

It is a beautiful memorial for a tragic event. So much thought and care went in to the planning and execution. Thank you for sharing it.

VeggieMummy said...

What a beautifully designed memorial. I like that all the names are inscribed. xx

Ericka @ A Quiet Girl's Musings... said...

What a very symbolic, creative, and moving memorial. I didn't know it existed until I read your blog. Thank you for sharing.

Su-sieee! Mac said...

That's a beautiful memorial. I had no idea there was one in your country. Thank you.

A Colorful World said...

I am so moved and impressed! What a wonderful thing to do, to erect this memorial. It is so lovely and I am sure brings tears to many eyes, or at least a sense of quiet respect to those who visit it. So wonderful! Thank you for sharing it...I'd never heard of it before.

heannettestgermain said...

Love you you captured different angles of this monument! And this sculpture may have been a precursor of how it is so apparent now for all the world to see, what a strong relationship the USA has with Israel. Maybe you know that there are many millionaires who live here, who are Jews? This park is beautiful. How serendipitous, for my own weekly post I showed pink orchids:) Many thanks for sharing this educational info with All Seasons, Lisa! Have a beautiful week!

Tom said...

...wonderful memorial, 911 affected humanity around the world.Let's work for peace in the crazy world of yours. Thanks for sharing, enjoy your week.

MummyTravels said...

It looks like the perfect spot to be still and quiet and remember. I hadn't realised there was somewhere like this so close to Jerusalem. Thanks for linking up with #citytripping

betty-NZ said...

What a wonderful tribute to the lives lost on that fateful day. Thanks for the information on it, it's quite interesting, as well.

sara [at] journey of doing said...

I had no idea that there was a tribute to 9/11 in Israel. That's really touching - considering how political I feel the US treats Israel. The curves and details of the flag are particularly beautiful. It's hard to believe people can create sculptures that seem so lifelike and real. (I have no skills like that.) Beautiful photos - thanks for sharing all the details!

Ashley @ The Wandering Weekenders said...

What a beautiful memorial! I think that it's such a touching way to honor the victims of that attack, and to show Israel's special relationship with the US.

Sarah said...

I got chills reading this. What a beautiful memorial with such thoughtful design. I will never forget where I was on 9/11 and I don't think any America who was alive then will either. It is hard to believe it was so long ago now.

Jibberjabberuk said...

What a very fitting and tasteful tribute. If only it could signify the end of such events.

Jeanna said...

Thanks for the new word (cenotaph). That is a unique shape, I really like it.

Debbie said...

Hi Lisa, this 9/11 memorial does deserve a post on its own. It's a memorial that makes sense in its design. Sometimes I look at a memorial or statue and it just doesn't make sense (if that makes any sense), but you described the thought that has gone into this one beautifully...Your spring flowers are the same as ours, although where we are they are long gone. The hills are looking dry and brown already and that's after a week of heavy rain.

Thank you for popping by and joining in with #keepingitreal.

xx

Jayne said...

What a moving memorial Lisa! And the location couldn't be any more idyllic, so beautiful.

Thanks for sharing with #MMBC. x

Aritha V. said...

Wat a great memorial. Thanks for sharing. I didn't know it existed but know I know. Thanks for the photos.

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