A 100-ft. tall bronze slab, appearing as if torn open to reveal a giant teardrop, stands at the site of Bayonne, New Jersey's old Military Ocean Terminal, across the river from downtown Manhattan. The giant sculpture, created by Russian artist Zurab Tsereteli, is a memorial to the victims of the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks.

September 11th memorials of all shapes and sizes have cropped up around New York City, ringing ground zero in commuter nodes. Tsereteli's is one of the more mawkish and extreme. It shouldn't be a surprise -- he's the same artist who created the 351-ft. tall Christopher Columbus statue that's been sitting, unassembled, in Puerto Rico since 1999 after being rejected by a number of US cities.

The Crying Slab, officially titled "To the Struggle Against World Terrorism," was originally destined for Jersey City's waterfront but was rejected as an unwelcome eyesore. Adjacent Bayonne, strapped for 9/11 memorial cash, was more amenable to a plan to create a park and install Tsereteli's sculpture. The monument, built in St. Petersburg, Russia, features a four-ton, 40-ft tall metal "Grief Tear." The names of all the victims who died at the Twin Towers and the Pentagon are engraved on the 11-sided base of the monument.

[03/13/2005]