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Twenty-five years after the Twin Towers disappeared from New York’s skyline, they returned Wednesday night, not in steel and glass, but in light.
A total of 2,977 airborne lights rose above New York Harbor, each representing one of the people killed in the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. They then moved into formation, tracing the outlines of the towers at their full architectural scale against the dark sky.
The artwork, titled “2,977 Lights Over New York Harbor,” was unveiled ahead of Friday’s 25th anniversary commemorations. The free public installation was created as an act of remembrance and unity rather than simply a spectacle.
As the accompanying video shows, the effect was both striking and unsettling: two familiar shapes briefly occupying the space where the original towers once stood, with thousands of individual lights turning an almost unimaginable death toll into something visible.
Over New York Harbor, 2,977 drones formed light silhouettes of the World Trade Center's Twin Towers. Each drone symbolized one of the victims of the September 11, 2001 attacks.
— Drone Wars (@Drone_Wars_) September 10, 2026
The Sky Elements show took place two days before the 25th anniversary of the tragedy: the drone… pic.twitter.com/DGpLqkydo3
The project was developed with input from people whose lives were directly changed by the attacks, including relatives of victims, survivors and first responders.
Among those involved were retired New York firefighter Brenda Berkman; Tim Brown, who responded to both the 1993 World Trade Center bombing and the 2001 attacks; Terry Strada, whose husband Tom was killed; Jim Smith, whose wife, New York police Officer Moira Smith, died while helping others; and Genevieve Siller, whose father, firefighter Stephen Siller, was killed.
For Cypriots, New York may be thousands of kilometres away, but the world created after 9/11 is very familiar. The attacks transformed airport security, reshaped international travel and triggered wars and political upheaval whose consequences continue to reach the Eastern Mediterranean.
Anyone who remembers flying before 2001 will also remember how quickly the experience changed. Security checks became stricter, cockpit doors were reinforced and practices now considered routine at Larnaca and Paphos airports became part of a new global reality.
Wednesday’s display offered no speeches and needed little explanation. For a few moments, every light stood for a person — and together, they rebuilt the towers in the sky.
*PR News Wire
