More than a decade after its destruction in the attacks of September 11 and a few days shy of the tragedy’s anniversary, construction is going full steam ahead on the rebuilding of St. Nicholas Greek Orthodox Church and National Shrine at the World Trade Center in New York City.
The church, designed by famed Spanish architect Santiago Calatrava, is inspired by Hagia Sophia in Turkey and will serve not only as a fully-functioning Greek Orthodox Church and parish for the community that has existed in the area for almost a century, but also as a national shrine where people from all denominations can visit and worship.
The marble that has already been obtained for the project was quarried from the same vein of Pentelic Marble that was use dot build the Parthenon more than 2,000 years ago. The vein stretches from Mount Pentelikon, the original quarry for the Parthenon and which is now protected, to Mount Dionysos, where all the marble for restoration at the Parthenon has come from.
The Greek Orthodox Archdiocese has undertaken a massive $40 million fundraising campaign to raise the necessary funds to complete the project, which has been wrapped up in legal wrangling for years.
Images from construction and the Architect’s renderings of what the building will look like:
