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Boston unveils renderings for marathon bombing markers

BOSTON - The City of Boston has released renderings of the sculptures that will memorialize the Boston Marathon bombings.

The memorials will be put up on Boylston Street at the spots where two bombs went off on April 15, 2013, killing three people and injured nearly 300 others.

The Boylston marker, as sculptor Pablo Eduardo describes it, will be more than a memorial.

Eduardo says he's been working closely with the families of the victims to create a memorial at the two locations that each include four pillars made of bronze and glass, and three pieces of granite that twist together.

"That's to symbolize that the memory of these people will also forever be linked to each other," said Eduardo.

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They feature three pillars dedicated to Lingzi Lu, Martin Richard and Krystle Campbell. They will be lit up at night.

Until the memorials are put up, the semicircle sidewalk and another near the finish line at the site where the other bomb went off remain empty. Some say they don't want a memorial to go up, reminding them of what happened on that tragic day.

"I'm not sure about that. I think a lot of the people that were really here kind of want to forget about it," said Robert Shick, who lives near the finish line. "They'll never forget the incident, but to walk by and to make it a tourist attraction like it was something special, it was horrific, it was terrible."

"It definitely was a really traumatic experience for the city, but I think by putting up a memorial it really shows how we've come back stronger," said Chip Daley, who was at the Marathon in 2013.

Eduardo says the families approve of the sculptures that allow people to reflect and make their own interpretations.

"They specifically asked if we can work out a design that doesn't give you something good or something bad didn't happen here but, something drastic happened here and you can decide for yourself what it is you want to take away from it," said Eduardo.

While each takeaway will be different, the sculptures symbolize an event that forever changed the community.

"For me personally, it's a day that I don't like to reflect on very much, but I know there a lot of people that do, so it could be a good thing and a healthy thing," said Jessica Popik, the manager at Marathon Sports, and who was running that day.

The memorials are slated to be finished by 2020.

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