26/11 anniversary: Nariman House to now be called Nariman Light House

The fifth floor of the building where the museum will come up

Soon, Mumbaikars will be able to take a tour of the Jewish outreach centre Chabad House, better known as Nariman House, that suffered heavy damage due to intense firing from the two terrorists holed up there during the 26/ 11 attacks.

On the 10th anniversary of the tragic day, the building is being renamed Nariman Light House, with the Chabad Trust constructing a memorial on the terrace for the 166 people who lost their lives.

Bullet damage on the fourth floor and the floor plan

Dispelling the dark
The trust will soon start an online registration programme for those wanting to visit the memorial. Rabbi Israel Kozlovsky, who heads the trust, said, "We are still working on it. The reason it will be online is because we need to keep a check on the number of visitors among other things. Once the second phase is completed, visitors will be taken from the rooftop memorial to the other floors.

"Irrespective of the depth of the darkness, one dim light is enough to end it. This is the place where two terrorists, through AK47s, spread darkness and killed innocents. So, through the same place, we want to present the Nariman Light House as a symbol of hope and action." Nariman Light House will commemorate all victims of the attack in one place - plaques bearing the names have been put up, surrounded by greenery and an artificial waterfall, which will be inaugurated on Monday. In the second phase, late Rabbi Gabriel Holtzberg, his late wife Rivka Holtzberg, and their son Moshe will be immortalised in a museum, which will take another year to complete.

Rabbi Israel Kozlovsky speaks on the eve of the anniversary

The plan
On the fourth floor, visitors will enter through a scorched and fractured door, just as it was in the days after the attack. The exhibition in the next room chronicles the attack and gives information on global terrorism. A beam of light shines from the dark room adjacent, and in the one next to it, it turns into a rainbow, representing the Seven Laws of Noah.

The fifth floor will be turned into a museum to show how the Holtzbergs lived. Moshe's room also has hand-drawn pictures of his mother. Chief architect of the plan, Eliav Nahlieli said, "Every time, I think about the incident and see the bullet holes, it gives me goosebumps. This won't be just another museum. All the furniture and household items will be recreated as dramatic artefacts to show how the apartment looked on the eve of the massacre."

The fateful day
On November 26, 2008, 10 members of Lashkar-e-Taiba carried out 12 coordinated shooting and bombing attacks on locations throughout the financial capital. Nariman House was among the targets, where the Holtzberg couple, four other Israelis and American visitors were killed. Moshe, only two years old then, was later found alive beside their bodies.

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