PITTSBURGH -- Designers of a Flight 93 memorial have made a circular, bowl-shaped piece of land its centerpiece, replacing the original crescent-shape design that some critics had said was a symbol honoring terrorists.
The new design, announced today by the memorial planning committee, features most of the same details of the original, which was unveiled in September after a worldwide design competition.
A tower with 40 wind chimes welcomes visitors to the crash site near Shanksville. There, they can walk to a large circular field ringed by 40 groves of red and sugar maple trees, symbolizing the 40 passengers and crew who died when hijacked Flight 93 went down on Sept. 11, 2001.
The circle enhances the earlier design by putting more emphasis on the crash site, according to details of the new plan, contained in the Flight 93 National Memorial's November newsletter. A break in the trees will symbolize the path the plane took.
Like I've said before, I don't think there was ever a conspiracy to incorporate Muslim symbology into the memorial, but it was there regardless is its inclusion was inadvertant or not.
The redesign was appropriate, and I'm glad to see that it has been done.