"The Sphere" once stood in the middle of Austin J. Tobin Plaza, the area between the World Trade Center towers in Manhattan.
Courtesy Fritz & Maria Koenig Foundation
The "Sphere" was severely damaged in the September 11, 2001, terror attacks.
Courtesy Fritz & Maria Koenig Foundation
The damaged sphere was among the rubble at ground zero.
Courtesy Fritz & Maria Koenig Foundation
The Sphere is a compilation of 52 bronze segments.
Courtesy Fritz & Maria Koenig Foundation
The sculpture took Fritz Koenig nearly three years to complete.
Courtesy Fritz & Maria Koenig Foundation
The Port Authority commissioned Fritz Koenig to build the sculpture in 1968.
Courtesy Fritz & Maria Koenig Foundation
German filmmaker Percy Adlon chronicled the sculpture's creation in his film "Koenig's Sphere." The film was featured in the Tribeca Film Festival.
Courtesy Fritz & Maria Koenig Foundation
"I was in my mid-40s at that time" Koenig says in Percy Adlon's film about the sculpture, "not too young and not too old to tackle the enormous endeavor."
Courtesy Fritz & Maria Koenig Foundation
Koenig completed "The Sphere" in Bremen, Germany. It was shipped as one piece to the World Trade Center in Lower Manhattan.
Courtesy Fritz & Maria Koenig Foundation
Then-Mayor Micahel Bloomberg rededicated the sculpture at its temporary resting place in Battery Park in 2002.
Courtesy Fritz & Maria Koenig Foundation
After 9/11 Koenig traveled to see his "injured, but surviving child."
Courtesy Fritz & Maria Koenig Foundation
Koenig told CNN he was "glad to hear about The Sphere coming back to the area she was made for, deeply destroyed and surviving at least."
Courtesy Fritz & Maria Koenig Foundation
"The Sphere" once stood in the middle of Austin J. Tobin Plaza, the area between the World Trade Center towers in Manhattan.
Courtesy Fritz & Maria Koenig Foundation
"The Sphere" once stood in the middle of Austin J. Tobin Plaza, the area between the World Trade Center towers in Manhattan.
