35 years since the discovery of AIDS, New York is about to unveil its first memorial to one hundred thousand people from the city who have died from the epidemic. The six-year project costs more than 6 million US dollars.  It's the first major site of remembrance in the city.

The memorial has been built on what is considered to be Ground Zero of New York's AIDS epidemic, the symbolic epicenter.

The memorial has been built on what is considered to be Ground Zero of New York's AIDS epidemic, the symbolic epicenter.

Across the way is the former St. Vincent's Hospital, what was the east coast's first and largest AIDS ward, where many with the virus spent their final days.

"Our generation has already forgotten so much of what happen because there weren't space, there weren't physical tributes, there's nothing taught in text books about AIDS activists history. I think if you took a poll on the street now and said how many people died from New York City, no one would know it was more than a hundred thousand people. And that's more than died in the Vietnam war from the entire country, the entire United States, just from AIDS here in New York," NYC AIDS Memorial co-founder Christopher Tepper said.

Developers are now turning St. Vincent's into luxury apartments - a move that spurred on the idea of needing a memorial.

The hospital itself is now gone. But the memorial stands in its shadow in one of New York's public parks. And the architects hope that because it's open to the public it'll give people an opportunity to interact with the memorial and to remember.

And while acknowledging the past, they also want the memorial to serve as a reminder of a fight not yet won.

"We need to remember that this is not finished, this is not like a war that is over. There's still a battle going on to eradicate this and sometimes you need to be reminded that this is not gone and there are still people who are suffering," NYC AIDS Memorial architect Mateo Paiva said.

The memorial will open to the public later this month. Making the memory of the victims of this invisible virus very visible in this part of the city.