World Trade Center “Tribute in Light” Returns for 12th Anniversary on 9/11

The 2011 installation of Tribute in Light.

The Tribute in Light installation will return this September. Until this year, the iconic light ceremony has been run by the Municipal Art Society (MAS), but there was always trepidation as to whether there would be enough funds to continue the annual memorial. It’s great to see that the 9/11 Memorial and Museum has taken over the management. The installation will turn on at sunset on September 11th in lower Manhattan (West and Morris Streets) and end at sunrise.

Six months after the attack in 2001, two artists Julian LaVerdiere and Paul Myoda installed the “Phantom Towers,” what we know now as the Tribute in Light, in partnership with several architects and Paul Marantz, the original lighting designer. LaVerdiere told New York Times Magazine, “It is an emotional response more than anything…the towers are like ghost limbs, we can feel them even though they’re not there anymore.” Untapped Cities previously had the opportunity to get up close to the mechanics of Tribute in Light.

Remembering 911

Twelve years later, it is always an emotional experience remembering what happened on that day. I remembered it was my first year being in The States. Boston isn't so far from New York. And it was just 2 weeks after I visited New York. Before the Petronas Tower was build, The former World Trade Centers (WTC) were the tallest building in the world.

Well, I won't be repeating this year about what happened on that day. I did a post in the past about this. But still, this is something really personal that I could never forget. May it be the same year experiencing the same incident on a family I lost in January 2001. 

Time flies, but the world will always remember what happen on September 11th. May all the lives lost be remembered. Twelve years and still counting. It's great to see the Twin Towers illuminated tribute once again. America and the free world are still healing.