The scene of four suicides, the Manhattan attraction has been closed to the public since the summer of 2021. Work is underway to secure the monument, but the lower part is still accessible to visitors.
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Pierre Morel
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At New York
Dubbed, unpretentiously, the Eiffel Tower of New York, the latest of the exceptional buildings of the Big Apple, had the ambition to symbolize the dynamism of the new Hudson Yard district. But after a suicide in the summer of 2021, local authorities ordered Vessel closed without announcing a reopening date. Between sculpture and monument to avant-garde architecture, the building designed by the English architect Thomas Heatherwick sits at the entrance to the High Line and the new Hudson Yard shopping center.
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Inaugurated in March 2019, it is supposed to encourage visitors to gather around a Christmas tree, and to climb the spiral staircases like part of a children’s playground. But several tragic events forced the architectural feat, which stands 46 meters high with 154 interconnected staircases, nearly 2,500 steps and 80 landings, to close its doors.
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Four dead in total
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The attraction had already had to stop visits for the first time after a suicide which occurred in January 2021. It had reopened four months later with several security measures such as the distribution of visitors in pairs and the installation of prevention posters on the Mental Health. But in August of the same year, a new death – the fourth since the opening of Vessel – forces the authorities to close the monument again. No reopening date has been announced to date.
« We will continue to test and evaluate solutions that could allow us to reopen the stairs so that everyone can enjoy the unique experience offered by Vessel. “, announced a spokesperson for Vessel in 2022. The installation of nets under the stairs would, for example, be studied according to local media. Today, no net has yet been installed, but it is still possible to move freely on the central platform of the monument, on the ground floor, where visitors like to take many photos.
