Crocheted Cross with Virginia Tech Ribbon

2009

It is common to see items of religious significance lining the Memorial Fence. Crosses, icons and prayer beads are almost always interspersed between other objects at any given time. Sometimes those are items of general hope and comfort, while other times they are left to bring remembrance to a specific event.

This cross contains a ribbon attached to a Virginia Tech pin, likely left to commemorate the school shooting that took place on that campus on April 16, 2007. With 33 people killed, it was and remains the deadliest school shooting in U.S. history. Items like this left at the Memorial Fence remind us how sacred spaces of memorialization help us to stand together.