Out here, it feels like you can leap across to lower Manhattan or reach out and touch the Statue of Liberty. That’s what visitors are saying about Harbor View Park, the new two-acre park at The Peninsula at Bayonne Harbor, which opened to the public on Oct. 23. “The views are simply breathtaking,” remarked one park visitor on opening day. “It’s a great place to come and take a break from everything.”

Harbor View Park was built by the Bayonne Local Redevelopment Authority (BLRA) and funded in part by the Hudson County Open Space Trust Fund and a contribution from Royal Caribbean Cruise Lines. Its centerpiece is the recently dedicated memorial “To the Struggle Against World Terrorism” a gift from Russian sculptor Zurab Tsereteli. According to BLRA Executive Director Nancy Kist, plans are already underway to expand the park. With $600,000 in Green Acres funding from New Jersey’s Department of Environmental Protection, the BLRA will construct a new bulkhead along Harbor View Park’s eastern boundary, stabilize the shoreline and extend the park all the way to the river’s edge.

Monument “To the Struggle Against World Terrorism”

Designed by Zurab Tsereteli

“When we approach the memorial and lay the flowers, we see ourselves being reflected in the tear. So you are participating. You are crying as well.”

–        Zurab Tsereteli

“A monument designed by Russian artist Zurab Tsereteli to commemorate victims of the Sept. 11 attacks will serve as a symbol of Russian-American unity against the threat of terrorism,” Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Sept. 16, 2005 during a ceremonial groundbreaking for the sculptural monument in Bayonne.

The 176-ton sculpture, entitled “To the Struggle Against World Terrorism”, consists of a 100-foot tall rectangular bronze block with a fissure down the middle creating the tension and drama of the sculptural image, in which a teardrop in memory of those whose lives were lost is suspended.

Nine walkways lead to the 11-sided granite base where the names of the 9/11 victims as well as victims of the 1993 World Trade Center bombings are engraved.

The monument contains not only an eternal memory for those who died, but also a hope that the civilized world will be able to avert evil in the future.

Zurab Tsereteli is thus implementing the idea of fighting against world terrorism through art. The monument calls for unification of efforts of all people of good will against evil.

Monument Brochure
The Memorial at Harbor View Park

For more information visit:
www.911monument.com