The AIDS Memorial Quilt, which was first hung from a balcony in San Francisco to memorialize forty lives lost to AIDS in 1987, is being brought back to Washington D. C., to mark the 25th anniversary of that first display.

It was on June 27 of 1987, when a group of mournful near and dear once hung a 40-panel quilt from a balcony in the memory of forty lives lost to AIDS.

Soon, the quilt received thousands of panels from other people, and became the country’s most substantial symbol of the contagion. Now, the AIDS Memorial Quilt has as many as 47,000 panels with the names of over 93,000 people.

A series of events has already begun in Washington D. C. to mark the 25th anniversary of that the display. Pieces of the massive quilt will be displayed during the Smithsonian Folklife Festival, from June 27 through July 1 and from July 4 through July 8.

Then, from July 21 through 25, every segment of the 54-ton quilt will be rolled out on the National Mall and in over fifty venues around the city, all through the International AIDS Conference.

AIDS (human immunodeficiency syndrome) is a disease of human immune system caused by immunodeficiency virus (HIV), which is transmitted through sexual intercourse, hypodermic needles and contaminated blood transfusions.