They have listened to critics of the Flight 93 “Crescent of Embrace” design and taken another crack at memorializing the site where heroes died. Is it an improvement?
Designers of a Flight 93 memorial have made a bowl-shaped piece of land its centerpiece, replacing a crescent-shape design that some critics had said was a symbol honoring terrorists, officials announced Wednesday.The new design for the memorial, to be built on the site of the Sept. 11, 2001, crash near Shanksville, features most of the details of the original, which was unveiled in September after a worldwide design competition.
But a round, bowl-shaped area would replace a "Crescent of Embrace," a crescent-shaped cluster of maple trees.
In September, Rep. Tom Tancredo, R-Colo., criticized the design in a letter to the National Park Service Director, saying many questioned the shape "because of the crescent's prominent use as a symbol in Islam _ and the fact that the hijackers were radical Islamists."
Paul Murdoch, president of Paul Murdoch Architects, which designed the memorial, had called the criticism of the crescent an "unfortunate diversion," but said they were sensitive to the concerns.
In both old and new versions of the design, a tower with 40 wind chimes welcomes visitors to the site, where they can then walk to a large circular field ringed by 40 groves of red and sugar maple trees, symbolizing the 40 passengers and crew who died. There will also be pedestrian trails, a plaza from which to view the crash site, and a white marble wall with the victims' names inscribed.
I’m still not in love with the design, but will concede that it is a movement in the right direction.
MORE AT Michelle Malkin, A Blog For All, JunkYardBlog, David Boyd, and Local Liberty.
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» Error Theory links with: It is NOT an improvement, on November 30, 2005, 09:20 PM
Excerpt: The red crescent is only blended in with a few more trees. Both of the crescent tips are still defined exactly as before. The crescent bisector still points to Mecca. There is still an upper section of memorial wall, bisected by the red crescent bise...
» Tel-Chai Nation links with: The camouflaged crescent, on December 04, 2005, 03:15 PM
Excerpt: This should serve as an important lesson as to why a man who pretends that he's designing a memorial dedicated to heroes but that's really dedicated to their enemies should not be allowed to work on any such project any further.
Comments on Is It An Improvement?
What a non-issue! Crescents do not equal Islam! For the record, Islam has no symbols. The moon and crescent are symbols of the Ottoman Empire, not a religion.
Islamics will argue that the killers who hijacked those flights were not symbolic of their faith, and I tend to agree. Were the wackos at Waco symbolic of Christianity?
If crescents are such an issue, then we really need to look at the flags of South Carolina and Colorado. for surely they display Islamic imagry!
|| Posted by Ol'Froth, November 30, 2005 05:47 PM ||Gotta disagree. In most countries, the relief agency that shows up in emergencies is called The Red Cross. In Islamic countries, it's call The Red Crescent.
Additionally, the Crescent and Star is used in many flags throughout the world with Muslim populations that were never part of the territory of the old Ottoman Empire.
And while I do not think that the crescent shaped memorial was intentionally meant to represent Islam, if the families of the victims do not like the memorial, they should have a say, whatever the reason.
|| Posted by Lee, November 30, 2005 06:41 PM ||Post a comment