Seventeen years after the September 11th terror attacks, a memorial honoring the 40 heroes of United Flight 93 which crashed in a Pennsylvania field has been erected.
Called the “Tower of Voices,” the monument in Shanksville, Pennsylvania stands 93 feet tall and contains 40 wind chimes, one for each passenger of Flight 93.
President Trump commemorated the tragedy Tuesday, calling the memorial “a monument to American defiance.”
“This memorial is now a message to the world: America will never, ever submit to tyranny,” he said.
#NeverForget #September11th https://t.co/l8WZer3UOL
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 11, 2018
The $6 million project was funded by the National Park Service and took over eight years to complete.
“The Tower of Voices serves as both a visual and audible reminder of the heroism of the 40 passengers and crew. There are no other chime structures like this in the world. The shape and orientation of the tower are designed to optimize air flow through the tower walls to reach the interior chime chamber,” the Park Service states.
“The chime system is designed using music theory to identify a mathematically developed range of frequencies needed to produce a distinct musical note associated with each chime.”
Watch an 8-year construction time lapse of the Flight 93 National Memorial in Shanksville, PA, which includes the Wall of Names and the Tower of Voices. https://t.co/iHTHgUzjOm pic.twitter.com/qiu2XyTqCY
— USA TODAY Video (@usatodayvideo) September 11, 2018
Architect Paul Murdoch first conceived of the structure 12 years ago, with the goal of bringing to life the “hallowed ground.”
“It’s the first visible memorial feature that you see as you enter, so it’s like a welcoming beacon or a landmark that introduces the memorial to the visitors,” architect Paul Murdoch said Sunday.
Yesterday, @Flight93NPS dedicated the Tower of Voices, a 93-ft-tall memorial with 40 wind chimes, representing the 40 passengers and crew members on Flight 93 who died on 9/11 #NeverForget pic.twitter.com/RnOB3DqvhT
— US Department of the Interior (@Interior) September 10, 2018
“It’s not just an emotional memorial for those of us who have lived through it, especially those who lost ones, but something that needs to be here to tell the story of what happened.”
“It’s gratifying to see it come this far,” he added, “but there’s still work to do to finish everything.”
