The following is a letter from the Superintendent, Flight 93 National Memorial concerning the memorial design:
June 5, 2008
Dear Friends of Flight 93 National Memorial:
I want to take this opportunity to thank you, our visitors and guests to this website, for your interest in the Flight 93 National Memorial design. Recently, some people have expressed concerns that the memorial may contain symbols associated with Islam.
The National Park Service (NPS) is aware of these concerns and took steps in 2006 and 2007 to investigate this issue. In doing so, the NPS consulted with university and religious scholars, all of whom have concluded that the memorial design does not imply or depict any religious iconography. In light of those findings, the National Park Service and all three of its partner organizations stand shoulder-to-shoulder and firm in our support of the final design for the Flight 93 memorial. It is a healing design, one that touches lightly on and embraces the existing landscape and topography, and points your attention towards the crash site - the Sacred Ground.
Four organizations collaborated to organize and implement the process for choosing a memorial design. The Families of Flight 93 is a nonprofit organization of family members of the passengers and crew who died on the flight. The Flight 93 Advisory Commission was created by Congress to prepare “a report containing recommendations for the planning, design, construction, and long-term management of a permanent memorial at the crash site.” The Flight 93 Memorial Task Force is a grassroots organization of approximately 80 to 90 members, including family members, community members, first responders, educators, and other local, regional, and national stakeholders. The National Park Service is the federal agency charged with administering Flight 93 National Memorial.
These four organizations agreed that an open design competition would be the most inclusive, transparent and democratic way to explore a range of designs for the memorial. The competition was open to design professionals, as well as to the public, and was conducted in two stages with two separate juries, both of which were comprised of family members, noted design professionals, and community leaders. The Stage I jury analyzed 1,050 submissions, all of which were on display in Somerset, Pennsylvania and on the project website for public review. Five finalists were forwarded to the Stage II jury, and were also exhibited for public comment and on the project website. The Stage II jury reviewed the public comments and evaluated the designs against the memorial’s mission statement.
By a majority, the Stage II jury voted in favor of Paul Murdoch’s design and then, to reinforce their support of the design, took a second, unanimous vote to support the design. Following is an excerpt from the final Stage II jury report describing the final vote:
“…..Ongoing discussion and a final vote by the Jury resulted in one entry receiving a majority of the Jurors’ votes. By consensus, the Stage II Jury forwards this selection of the Flight 93 National Memorial to the Partners with the full and unqualified support of each Juror….”
After the winning design was announced in September 2005, the NPS received some inquiries from the public about what they perceived as Islamic symbolism in the memorial design. While the architect, Mr. Murdoch, had not intended any such symbolism in the design, he nonetheless refined certain aspects of the design in response to the perceptions. The most prominent refinement was in the treatment of the naturally occurring bowl-shaped landscape feature. The design now surrounds that area with a circle of trees which is broken in two places – the location which marks the flight path as it breaks the circular continuity of the bowl edge, and the Sacred Ground where the crash occurred.
Please be assured that the National Park Service and all of the Flight 93 National Memorial project partners are committed to having a national memorial that conveys the full honor due to the heroes of Flight 93. Our priority now is to move forward with the building of the first phase of the memorial by the tenth anniversary, and to continue to commemorate the passengers and crew who lost their lives on September 11, 2001.
I invite you to further explore this website to learn more about the memorial design. Our home page features a link to a written statement from the President, Families of Flight 93 in support of the memorial design, presented at a May 2, 2008 media conference in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, along with many news articles from that day. Questions and answers about the design can be found in the memorial design section of this website, and will provide you with an in-depth briefing paper, facts versus claims about the design, and letters from the Families of Flight 93 and the Flight 93 Advisory Commission.
Please feel free to contact me if you would like further information at . Thank you for your interest in our project and for your support of the National Park Service.
Sincerely,
Joanne M. Hanley
Superintendent
