Media FAQs

Q:Why are the chairs arranged the way they are and what do they represent?

The chairs have been arranged in nine rows, which represent the nine floors of the Murrah Building. Each individual’s chair was then placed on the row (or the floor) on which the person worked or was visiting when the bomb went off. The chairs were then grouped by agency and in alphabetical order within that agency, whether the person was employed in that agency or visiting. The five chairs located in the western most column represent the five people killed who were not in the Murrah Building at the time of the bombing. Two were in the Oklahoma Water Resources Building, one person was in the Athenian Building, one person was outside the building near the blast and the fifth chair represents the nurse who lost her life in the rescue efforts. Both the Water Resources Board Building and the Athenian Building were so heavily damaged they had to be torn down. There were also three unborn children killed, not identified in the Medical Examiner’s count of 168, but they are listed on their mothers’ chairs below their mothers’ names.

The chairs have also been arranged to abstractly reflect the outline of the blast cavity of the Murrah Building with the heaviest concentration reflecting the heaviest damage to the building.

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