Oklahoma City National Memorial
The Oklahoma City National Memorial & Museum was created to honor those who were killed, those who survived and those changed forever by the 1995 bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City. The Memorial and Museum are dedicated to educating visitors about the impact of violence, informing about events surrounding the bombing, and inspiring hope and healing through lessons learned by those affected.
The Oklahoma City National Memorial is an outdoor exhibition of honor and urban design. Created by Butzer Design Partnership, this campus style memorial offers viewers a quiet reflection. Located on the remains of the Murrah building, the memorial is extremely interactive with multiple “mini-memorials” that possess great symbolic meaning. There are so many great things to see at the Oklahoma City National Museum that we simply could not list them all. Here are our three top installations at the Museum.
Highlights from the outdoor Memorial include:
Gates of Time
Twin monuments flank both sides of the campus and offer visitors to travel through the events of April 19th. The East Gate marks the time 9:01 am, a time of “innocence of the city before the attack.” Facing the dominant structure across the pool of water is the West Gate revealing 9:03am, the moment our history was changed. Both of these forceful structures are symmetrical lining up perfectly parallel to each other. The Gates of Time is by far the tallest structure in the outdoor memorial.
Reflection Pool
The reflection pool is a calming, shallow pool of water that stands between the Gates of Time. The soothing water symbolizes individual reflection of the Memorial as someone whose life has been changed forever.
Field of Empty Chairs
Our personal favorite is the Field of Empty Chairs. 168 chairs represent the lives taken on April 19, 1995. Each of the chairs were carefully arranged in nine rows to symbolize each floor of the Murrah building. Every chair bears the name of someone taken too soon with nineteen smaller chairs in place for children.
