The memorial to the 2013 Boston Marathon bombing is complete.
Three stone pillars representing the three people who died at the race's Boylston Street finish line were installed early Monday, marking the final step of the $2 million project, which took four years to plan and develop.
The monument was supposed to be ready least year for the fifth anniversary of the April 15, 2013, bombing but underwent significant redesigns and other delays.
Inscriptions ring the base of two of the stone pillars completed Monday, Aug. 19, 2019, in Boston to memorialize the Boston Marathon bombing victims at the sites where they were killed. Martin Richard, Krystle Campbell and Lingzi Lu were killed when bombs were detonated at two locations near the finish line on April 15, 2013. (AP PhotoPhilip Marcelo)
Bolivian-born sculptor Pablo Eduardo said before this year's race that it was important that the final work reflect the hopes and expectations of families who lost loved ones.
The monument marks the spots where two pressure cooker bombs detonated, killing three people and wounding more than 260 others. It includes four bronze and glass spires ranging in height from about 17 feet (5 meters) to 21 feet (6 meters) that were installed last month and are meant to illuminate the site.
Cherry trees to bloom each April have also been planted, and two bronze bricks have been set in the sidewalk to honor the police officers killed in the bombing's aftermath, Massachusetts Institute of Technology Officer Sean Collier and Boston police Officer Dennis Simmonds.
Sculptor Pablo Eduardo, left, and workers make final touches to stone pillars stand along Boylston Street after installation was finished, Monday, Aug. 19, 2019, in Boston to memorialize the Boston Marathon bombing victims at the sites where they were killed. Martin Richard, Krystle Campbell and Lingzi Lu were killed when bombs were detonated at two locations near the finish line on April 15, 2013. (AP PhotoPhilip Marcelo)
The pillars installed Monday range in height from about 4 to 6 feet (1.2 to 1.8 meters) and were gathered from places around Boston significant to the bombing victims.
One representing 8-year-old Boston resident Martin Richard was taken from Franklin Park in his family's Dorchester neighborhood. Another that is fused to it honors 23-year-old Boston University graduate student Lingzi Lu and was donated by her school.
Around the base of the two pillars is an inscription etched in bronze: "Let us climb, now, the road to hope."
Two of the stone pillars stand along Boylston Street after installation was finished, Monday, Aug. 19, 2019, in Boston to memorialize the Boston Marathon bombing victims at the sites where they were killed. Martin Richard, Krystle Campbell and Lingzi Lu were killed when bombs were detonated at two locations near the finish line on April 15, 2013. (AP PhotoPhilip Marcelo)
And the third pillar for 29-year-old Medford, Massachusetts, native Krystle Campbell comes from Spectacle Island in Boston Harbor. Its inscription reads: "All we have lost is brightly lost."
Boston is also planning a larger monument elsewhere in the city to commemorate the attack.
TOKYO (AP) — The American envoy to the United Nations called Friday for countries armed with atomic weapons to pursue nuclear disarmament as she visited the atomic bomb museum in Nagasaki, Japan.
Linda Thomas-Greenfield, who became the first U.S. cabinet member to visit Nagasaki, stressed the importance of dialogue and diplomacy amid a growing nuclear threat in the region.
“We must continue to work together to create an environment for nuclear disarmament. We must continue to prevent the spread of nuclear weapons in every corner of the world,” she said after a tour of the atomic bomb museum.
“For those of us who already have those weapons, we must pursue arms control. We can and must work to ensure that Nagasaki is the last place to ever experience the horror of nuclear weapons,” she added, standing in front of colorful hanging origami cranes, a symbol of peace.
The United States dropped the world’s first atomic bomb on Hiroshima on Aug. 6, 1945, destroying the city and killing 140,000 people. A second attack three days later on Nagasaki killed 70,000 more people. Japan surrendered on Aug. 15, ending World War II and its nearly half-century of aggression in Asia.
Nagasaki Gov. Kengo Oishi said in a statement that he believed Thomas-Greenfield's visit and her first-person experience at the museum “will be a strong message in promoting momentum of nuclear disarmament for the international society at a time the world faces a severe environment surrounding atomic weapons.”
Oishi said he conveyed to the ambassador the increasingly important role of Nagasaki and Hiroshima in emphasizing the need of nuclear disarmament.
Thomas-Greenfield's visit to Japan comes on the heels of Prime Minister Fumio Kishida's official visit to the United States last week and is aimed at deepening Washington's trilateral ties with Tokyo and Seoul. During her visit to South Korea earlier this week, she held talks with South Korean officials, met with defectors from North Korea and visited the demilitarized zone.
The ambassador said the United States is looking into setting up a new mechanism for monitoring North Korea's nuclear weapons program. Russia and China have thwarted U.S.-led efforts to step up U.N. sanctions on North Korea over its ballistic missile testing since 2022, underscoring a deepening divide between permanent Security Council members over Russia’s war on Ukraine.
She said it would be “optimal” to launch the new system next month, though it is uncertain if that is possible.
The U.N. Security Council established a committee to monitor sanctions, and the mandate for its panel of experts to investigate violations had been renewed for 14 years until last month, when Russia vetoed another renewal.
In its most recent report, the panel of experts said it is investigating 58 suspected North Korean cyberattacks between 2017 and 2023 valued at approximately $3 billion, with the money reportedly being used to help fund its weapons development.
The United States, Japan and South Korea have been deepening security ties amid growing tension in the region from North Korea and China.
U.S. Ambassador to United Nations Linda Thomas-Greenfield, left, and Japan's Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, right, shake hands during a meeting Friday, April 19, 2024, at prime minister's office in Tokyo. (AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko, Pool)
U.S. Ambassador to United Nations Linda Thomas-Greenfield, left, and Japan's Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, right, shake hands during a meeting Friday, April 19, 2024, at prime minister's office in Tokyo. (AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko, Pool)
U.S. Ambassador to United Nations Linda Thomas-Greenfield, right, speaks to Rahm Emanuel, U.S. Ambassador to Japan, second right, as they wait for a meeting with Japan's Prime Minister Fumio Kishida Friday, April 19, 2024, at prime minister's office in Tokyo. (AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko, Pool)
U.S. Ambassador to United Nations Linda Thomas-Greenfield, left, and Rahm Emanuel, U.S. Ambassador to Japan, right, walk to meet Japan's Prime Minister Fumio Kishida Friday, April 19, 2024, at prime minister's office in Tokyo. (AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko, Pool)
U.S. Ambassador to United Nations Linda Thomas-Greenfield, left, and Japan's Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, right, talk prior to a meeting Friday, April 19, 2024, at prime minister's office in Tokyo. (AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko, Pool)
U.S. Ambassador to United Nations Linda Thomas-Greenfield, left, and Japan's Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, right, prepare to talk during a meeting Friday, April 19, 2024, at prime minister's office in Tokyo. (AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko, Pool)
