The Tribute in Light

In what has become one of the most moving — and visible — 9/11 memorials, two giant pillars of light near where the World Trade Center’s twin towers once stood were turned on in lower Manhattan this week to mark the 16th anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.

Assembled on the roof of the Battery Parking Garage south of the 9/11 Memorial, the twin beams reach up to four miles into the sky and are comprised of 88 7,000-watt xenon light bulbs positioned into two 48-foot squares, echoing the shape and orientation of the Twin Towers.

On the anniversary of 9/11, the Memorial Plaza is open to the public from 3 p.m. to midnight for the viewing of Tribute in Light. The installation can also be viewed from a 60-mile radius around lower Manhattan.

Photography by Gordon Donovan/Yahoo News

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