World Trade Center Sphere

The tragedy that was 9/11 changed the skyline of New York forever, leaving a hole bigger than the size of ground zero in the heart of all Americans. Several artifacts were gathered from the rubble of the Twin Towers. Most significant among them was probably the bronze sculpture made by Fritz Koenig. For 30 years it held a vantage position in the center of the Austin Tobin Plaza, between the two towers. On September 11, it was buried beneath the World Trade Center towers, but it was soon salvaged from the wreckage. Although it was damaged visibly, it remained structurally intact, and today, from its current location in Battery Park, the World Trade Center Sphere has become a symbol of the indomitable and resilient spirit of the Americans.

Koenig, the sculptor of “The Sphere,” considered it his “biggest child.” It is 25 feet high and cast in 52 bronze segments. After being put together in Bremen, Germany, it was shipped as a whole to Lower Manhattan. The sculpture was meant to stand for “world peace through world trade.” It rotated once every 24 hours and the base soon become a popular lunch spot for the people working at the WTC when the weather was pleasant.

Interestingly, Koenig was not the first choice of the owner of the World Trade Center – the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey. They had selected Henry Moore to do a sculpture for the twin towers. But, after having seen his work at the Staempfli Gallery in Manhattan, architect Minoru Yamasaki insisted on having Keonig do the sculpture. Work began on the sculpture in 1967 and it took four years to complete, just in time for the opening of the WTC. Though it was officially titled “Große Kugelkaryatide,” which translated into English means “Great Spherical Caryatid”, it soon earned the nickname of “The Sphere.”

Post its recovery from Ground Zero, The Sphere was dismantled and sent to John F. Kennedy International Airport to be stored. Eventually, the sculpture came back home and it was re-erected in Battery Park, near Hope Garden. Four engineers and fifteen ironworkers worked to create a new base for the sphere and the sculptor Koenig personally supervised all the work. Today, an eternal flame burns at this memorial in memory of the victims who lost their life in the WTC attack.

Koenig has very aptly put his thoughts on this sculpture into beautiful words, “It was a sculpture, now it’s a monument….It now has a different beauty, one I could never imagine. It has its own life – different from the one I gave to it.”

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