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| 53°29′09″N 2°14′41″W / 53.4857206°N 2.2446714°W | |
| Location | Manchester, England |
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| Opening date | 5 January 2022 |
| Dedicated to | Victims of the 2017 Manchester Arena bombing |
The Glade of Light is a memorial in Manchester, England, that commemorates the victims of the Manchester Arena bombing of 2017. It opened to the public on 5 January 2022[1] and an official opening event took place 10 May 2022.[2] The memorial is in the form of a garden with a stone centrepiece inscribed with the names of the 22 victims.[3] Individual 'memory capsules' commemorating each victim have been included in the memorial and are situated within the stone centrepiece.[3]
It was designed by landscape architects BCA Landscape and graphic designers Smiling Wolf[4] on behalf of Galliford Try who completed the construction in 2021.[5]
The memorial is located between Chetham's School of Music and Manchester Cathedral. It is to be part of a series of improvements to Manchester's Medieval Quarter.[3] The former leader of Manchester City Council, Richard Leese, said that the memorial "promises to be a beautiful tribute" and the memories of the victims "will endure and Manchester will never forget them".[3] The council had described the memorial as "a tranquil garden space for remembrance and reflection".[6]
In December 2021, it was reported that the site for the memorial had been trespassed over after security barriers were removed. Reports of vandalism were passed to Greater Manchester Police.[6]
The memorial was vandalised on 9 February 2022, causing £10,000 of damage. A 24-year-old man admitted to the offence in April and was given a two-year community order on 22 June 2022.[7][8]
