9/11 Memorial In King Of Prussia Holds A Beauty Beyond The Architecture

The King of Prussia mall could be called the Times Square of Pennsylvania.

At every turn there is a new sign that wasn’t there a week ago. New construction seems to hold the area in a state of permanent expansion around the pulsing epicenter of one of the nation’s largest malls.

It can be disorienting even for locals.

Yet amidst the swarms of traffic and blocks upon blocks of commercial development, there stand green signs, the kind used to denote parks.

They have an arrow and they read “9/11 Memorial.”

Against the hum and the frenzy of the King of Prussia Mall, against the heart of urban America, in a place where the frantic commercialism of humanity reaches its highest pitch, the twin beams of the memorial emanate a dignified silence.

The beams were taken directly from the wreckage of the World Trade Center.

The memorial itself stands in the yard of Station 47 a few blocks away from the center of King of Prussia.

“This project required each of us involved, to discover our limits, and then go beyond them,” said Charles E. McDonald Jr., the architect of the memorial.

The beams are not the only symbolic significance which the memorial holds. Lines of sight, the angle of construction, and other mathematical specifications correlate to the day’s fateful events.

The memorial was erected on the 10th anniversary of the attacks in 2011.

A 9/11 5k Run, which supports the memorial, will be held on September 12 at 9 a.m.

Image courtesy of King of Prussia Volunteer Fire Company.