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The National September 11 Memorial & Museum (also known as the 9/11 Memorial & Museum) is a memorial and museum in New York City commemorating the September 11 attacks of 2001, which killed 2,977 people, and the
1993 World Trade Center bombing The 1993 World Trade Center bombing was a terrorist attack on the World Trade Center in New York City, U.S., carried out on February 26, 1993, when a van bomb detonated below the North Tower of the complex. The urea nitrate–hydrogen gas en ...
, which killed six. The memorial is located at the World Trade Center site, the former location of the Twin Towers that were destroyed during the September 11 attacks. It is operated by a non-profit institution whose mission is to raise funds for, program, and operate the memorial and museum at the World Trade Center site. A memorial was planned in the immediate aftermath of the attacks and destruction of the World Trade Center for the victims and those involved in rescue and recovery operations. The winner of the World Trade Center Site Memorial Competition was Israeli-American architect
Michael Arad Michael Arad (Hebrew: מיכאל ארד) is an Israeli-American architect who is best known for being the designer of the National September 11 Memorial & Museum. He won the competition to design the memorial in 2004. Early life and education ...
of
Handel Architects Handel Architects LLP is an architecture firm that was founded in New York City in 1994. Led by Partner Gary Handel, the firm has offices in New York City, Boston, San Francisco, and Hong Kong. The firm is composed of five partners: Gary Handel, Bl ...
, a New York- and San Francisco-based firm. Arad worked with landscape-architecture firm Peter Walker and Partners on the design, creating a forest of swamp white oak trees with two square reflecting pools in the center marking where the Twin Towers stood. In August 2006, the World Trade Center Memorial Foundation and the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey began heavy construction on the memorial and museum. The design is consistent with the original master plan by
Daniel Libeskind Daniel Libeskind (born May 12, 1946) is a Polish–American architect, artist, professor and set designer. Libeskind founded Studio Daniel Libeskind in 1989 with his wife, Nina, and is its principal design architect. He is known for the design a ...
, which called for the memorial to be below street level—originally —in a plaza, and was the only finalist to disregard Libeskind's requirement that the buildings overhang the footprints of the Twin Towers. The World Trade Center Memorial Foundation was renamed the National September 11 Memorial & Museum in 2007. A dedication ceremony commemorating the tenth anniversary of the attacks was held at the memorial on September 11, 2011, and it opened to the public the following day. The museum was dedicated on May 15, 2014, with remarks from then mayor of New York City
Michael Bloomberg Michael Rubens Bloomberg (born February 14, 1942) is an American businessman, politician, philanthropist, and author. He is the majority owner, co-founder and CEO of Bloomberg L.P. He was Mayor of New York City from 2002 to 2013, and was a ca ...
and then President Barack Obama. Six days later, the museum opened to the public.


History


Planning

Formerly the World Trade Center Memorial Foundation, the National September 11 Memorial & Museum was formed as a
501(c)(3) A 501(c)(3) organization is a United States corporation, trust, unincorporated association or other type of organization exempt from federal income tax under section 501(c)(3) of Title 26 of the United States Code. It is one of the 29 types of 50 ...
non-profit corporation to raise funds and manage the memorial's planning and construction. Its board of directors met for the first time on January 4, 2005, and it reached its first-phase capital-fundraising goal ($350 million) in April 2008. This money and additional funds raised will be used to build the memorial and museum and
endow A financial endowment is a legal structure for managing, and in many cases indefinitely perpetuating, a pool of financial, real estate, or other investments for a specific purpose according to the will of its founders and donors. Endowments are of ...
the museum. In 2003, the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation launched the World Trade Center Site Memorial Competition, an international competition to design a memorial at the World Trade Center site to commemorate the lives lost on 9/11. Individuals and teams from around the world submitted design proposals. On November 19, 2003, the thirteen-member jury selected eight finalists. ''Reflecting Absence'', designed by
Michael Arad Michael Arad (Hebrew: מיכאל ארד) is an Israeli-American architect who is best known for being the designer of the National September 11 Memorial & Museum. He won the competition to design the memorial in 2004. Early life and education ...
and Peter Walker, was chosen as the winning design on January 6, 2004. It consists of a field of trees interrupted by two large, recessed pools, the footprints of the Twin Towers. The deciduous trees ( swamp white oaks) are arranged in rows and form informal clusters, clearings and groves. The park is at street level, above the Memorial Museum. The names of the victims of the attacks (including those from the Pentagon,
American Airlines Flight 77 American Airlines Flight 77 was a scheduled American Airlines domestic transcontinental passenger flight from Washington Dulles International Airport in Dulles, Virginia, to Los Angeles International Airport in Los Angeles, California. The Boe ...
, United Airlines Flight 93, and the
1993 World Trade Center bombing The 1993 World Trade Center bombing was a terrorist attack on the World Trade Center in New York City, U.S., carried out on February 26, 1993, when a van bomb detonated below the North Tower of the complex. The urea nitrate–hydrogen gas en ...
) are inscribed on the parapets surrounding the waterfalls in an arrangement of "meaningful adjacencies". On January 14, 2004, the final design for the World Trade Center site memorial was unveiled at a press conference in
Federal Hall National Memorial Federal Hall is a historic building at 26 Wall Street in the Financial District of Manhattan in New York City. The current Greek Revival–style building, completed in 1842 as the Custom House, is operated by the National Park Service as a nati ...
. As mandated by the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation (LMDC), the World Trade Center Memorial Foundation owns, operates and finances the ''Reflecting Absence'' Memorial and the Museum.
John C. Whitehead John Cunningham Whitehead (April 2, 1922 – February 7, 2015) was an American banker and civil servant, a board member of the World Trade Center Memorial Foundation (WTC Memorial Foundation), and, until his resignation in May 2006, chairman of ...
, chair of the LMDC and the foundation, announced his resignation in May 2006 and was replaced at the LMDC by former president Kevin Rampe. New York City Mayor
Michael Bloomberg Michael Rubens Bloomberg (born February 14, 1942) is an American businessman, politician, philanthropist, and author. He is the majority owner, co-founder and CEO of Bloomberg L.P. He was Mayor of New York City from 2002 to 2013, and was a ca ...
replaced Whitehead as chair of the National September 11 Memorial & Museum. Foundation executive committee chair
Thomas S. Johnson Thomas S. Johnson is an American banker. He was chairman and CEO GreenPoint Financial Corp. and GreenPoint Bank and since April 23, 2001; he served there from 1993 to 2004. He has chaired the Board of Trustees of the United States-Japan Foundatio ...
said on May 9, 2006: On May 26, 2006, Gretchen Dykstra resigned as president and chief executive officer of the World Trade Center Foundation. Joseph C. Daniels was appointed as president and CEO in October 2006. The memorial projects were toned down, and the budget was cut to $530 million. Despite delays, the National September 11 Memorial & Museum was confident that it would be completed by September 11, 2011.


National tour

In September 2007, the Memorial & Museum began a four-month national-awareness tour of 25 cities in 25 states, and thousands participated in tour activities. The tour began at Finlay Park in Columbia, South Carolina, ending at Steinbrenner Field in Tampa, Florida. Highlights included an exhibition of photographs, artifacts from the site and a film with firsthand accounts from individuals who had directly experienced the attacks. At the opening ceremony in South Carolina, the students of White Knoll Middle School (who raised over $500,000 in 2001 for a new truck for the New York City Fire Department) were honored and retired New York City police officer Marcelo Pevida presented the city with an American flag which had flown over Ground Zero. The main attractions of the 2007 national tour were steel beams, later used in the construction of the memorial, for visitors to sign.


Fundraising

The National September 11 Memorial & Museum conducts a "cobblestone campaign", in which a contributor may sponsor a cobblestone which will line the Memorial plaza. Donors are recognized on the Memorial's website. Donors are able to locate their cobblestone by entering their name at a kiosk on the Memorial plaza. In 2008 the Memorial conducted two holiday cobblestone campaigns: the first for Father's Day, and the second for the December holiday season. On September 9, 2011, Secretary
Shaun Donovan Shaun Lawrence Sarda Donovan (born January 24, 1966) is an American government official and housing specialist who served as United States Secretary of Housing and Urban Development from 2009 to 2014, and Director of the US Office of Management ...
of the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development said that the department had given $329 million to the National September 11 Memorial & Museum through HUD's Community Development Block Grant program. According to CNN, the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey dropped its claim that the 9/11 Memorial & Museum owed it $300 million in construction costs in return for "financial oversight of the museum and memorial". Senator
Daniel Inouye Daniel Ken Inouye ( ; September 7, 1924 – December 17, 2012) was an American lawyer and politician who served as a United States senator from Hawaii from 1963 until his death in 2012. Beginning in 1959, he was the first U.S. representative f ...
of Hawaii sponsored S.1537, the National September 11 Memorial and Museum Act of 2011, which would provide $20 million in federal funds annually toward the Memorial's operating budget (about one-third of its total budget). The legislation was presented to the
U.S. Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources The United States Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources is a standing committee of the United States Senate. It has jurisdiction over matters related to energy and mineral resources, including nuclear development; irrigation and recla ...
on October 19, 2011. In return for federal funding S.1537 would authorize the Secretary of the Interior to accept the donation by the memorial's board of directors of title to the National September 11 Memorial, contingent on agreement by the board, the governors of New York and New Jersey, the Mayor of New York and the Secretary of the Interior. On October 19, 2011, William D. Shaddox of the National Park Service voiced concerns to the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources about the agency's ability to provide the funds required by S.1537, testifying that NPS ownership of a property over which it would not have operational and administrative control (as stipulated by S.1537) was unprecedented.


Construction

On March 13, 2006, construction workers arrived at the WTC site to begin work on the ''Reflecting Absence'' design. Some relatives of the victims and other concerned citizens gathered to protest the new memorial that day, saying that it should be built above ground. The president of the memorial foundation said that family members were consulted and formed a consensus in favor of the design, and work would continue as planned. In May, estimated construction costs for the Memorial were reported to have risen to over $1 billion. In 2006, at the request of Bloomberg and Governor George Pataki, builder Frank Sciame performed a month-long analysis which included input from victims' families, the lower Manhattan business and residential communities, architects and members of the memorial-competition jury. The analysis recommended design changes which kept the memorial and museum within a $500 million budget. In July 2008, the
Survivors' Staircase The Survivors' Staircase was the last visible remaining original structure above ground level at the World Trade Center site. It was originally an outdoor flight of granite-clad stairs and two escalators which connected Vesey Street to the World ...
was lowered to bedrock, making it the first artifact to be moved into the museum. By the end of August, the footings and foundations were completed. On September 2 construction workers raised the first column for the memorial, near the footprint of the North Tower. By then, about 70 percent of the
construction contracts A construction contract is a mutual or legally binding agreement between two parties based on policies and conditions recorded in document form. The two parties involved are one or more property owners and one or more contractors. The owner, often ...
were awarded or ready to award. A total of of steel were installed at the memorial site. By April 2010, the reflecting pools were fully framed in steel, and 85 percent of the concrete had been poured. By April 22, workers had begun installation of the granite coating for the reflecting pools. By June the North Pool's granite coating was completed, and workers had begun granite installation in the South Pool. In July, the first soil shipments arrived at the site, and in August workers began planting trees on the memorial plaza. The swamp white oaks can reach at maturity, live from 300 to 350 years, and their autumn leaves are gold-colored. The "Survivor Tree" is a
callery pear ''Pyrus calleryana'', or the Callery pear, is a species of pear tree native to China and Vietnam, in the family Rosaceae. It is most commonly known for its cultivar 'Bradford' and its offensive odor, widely planted throughout the United States an ...
which survived the devastation and was kept for replanting. In September, workers reinstalled two " tridents" salvaged from the Twin Towers. In November 2010, workers began testing the North Pool waterfall. Construction progressed through early 2011: installation of glass panels on the museum pavilion's facade began in March, and workers began testing the South Pool waterfall two months later. Most of the memorial was finished in time for the 10th anniversary of the terrorist attacks, with the museum planned for completion the following year. By September 2, 243 trees were planted at the site and eight more were planted in the days before the memorial opened. By then, both pools were completed and the waterfalls were tested daily. On September 12, 2011, one day after the 10th anniversary of the September 11 terrorist attacks, the memorial opened to the public with a lengthy set of rules and regulations approved by the foundation's board of directors. The period from September 11, 2011, to May 25, 2014, was known as the "interim operating period", when the memorial was surrounded by construction of neighboring World Trade Center projects; the fence was taken down on May 25, 2014. Three months after its opening, the memorial had been visited by over a million people.


Design

In January 2004, ''Reflecting Absence'', by architect
Michael Arad Michael Arad (Hebrew: מיכאל ארד) is an Israeli-American architect who is best known for being the designer of the National September 11 Memorial & Museum. He won the competition to design the memorial in 2004. Early life and education ...
of
Handel Architects Handel Architects LLP is an architecture firm that was founded in New York City in 1994. Led by Partner Gary Handel, the firm has offices in New York City, Boston, San Francisco, and Hong Kong. The firm is composed of five partners: Gary Handel, Bl ...
and landscape architect Peter Walker, was selected from 5,201 entries from 63 countries as the winner of the LMDC's design competition. Two pools with the largest man-made waterfalls in the United States comprise the footprints of the Twin Towers, symbolizing the loss of life and the physical void left by the attacks. The waterfalls are intended to mute the sounds of the city, making the site a contemplative sanctuary. Landscape architect Peter Walker planted many parts of the memorial with white oaks. More than 400 swamp white oak trees fill the Memorial plaza, enhancing the site's reflective nature. Pedestrian simulations tested the memorial's design. The pedestrian-modeling program Legion was used to simulate visitor utilization of the space, and its design was tweaked to prevent bottlenecks. The fountain was engineered by Delta Fountains. WSP Cantor Seinuk was the structural engineer, Jaros, Baum & Bolles provided
MEP MEP may refer to: Organisations and politics * Mahajana Eksath Peramuna, a political party in Sri Lanka * Mahajana Eksath Peramuna (1956), a former political alliance in Sri Lanka * Maison européenne de la photographie, a photography centre ...
engineering, and Lend Lease served as construction manager.


Arrangement of the victims' names

The names of 2,983 victims are inscribed on 152 bronze parapets on the memorial pools: 2,977 killed in the September 11 attacks and six killed in the 1993 World Trade Center bombing. The names are arranged according to an algorithm, creating "meaningful adjacencies" based on relationships—proximity at the time of the attacks, company or organization affiliations (for those working at the World Trade Center or the Pentagon) and in response to about 1,200 requests from family members. Software made by
Local Projects Jacob ("Jake") Barton (born November 7, 1972, in Brooklyn, New York) is an American designer, and Founder of Local Projects, an experience design firm for museums, brands and public spaces based in New York, New York. His work focuses on storyt ...
implemented the arrangement. All names are stylized with
Optima Optima is a humanist sans-serif typeface designed by Hermann Zapf and released by the D. Stempel AG foundry, Frankfurt, West Germany in 1958. Though classified as a sans-serif, Optima has a subtle swelling at the terminals suggesting a glyphic ...
typeface for a "balanced appearance". The names of the employees and visitors in the North Tower (WTC 1), the passengers and crew of American Airlines Flight 11 (which struck the North Tower), and the employees and a visitor of the 1993 World Trade Center bombing are around the perimeter of the North Pool. The names of the employees and visitors in the South Tower (WTC 2), the passengers and crew of United Airlines Flight 175 (which struck the South Tower), the employees, visitors, and bystanders in the immediate vicinity of the North and South Towers, the first responders who died during rescue operations, the passengers and crew of United Airlines Flight 93 (which crashed near Shanksville, Pennsylvania) and
American Airlines Flight 77 American Airlines Flight 77 was a scheduled American Airlines domestic transcontinental passenger flight from Washington Dulles International Airport in Dulles, Virginia, to Los Angeles International Airport in Los Angeles, California. The Boe ...
(which struck the Pentagon), and the employees at the Pentagon are around the perimeter of the South Pool. Company names are not included, but company employees and visitors are listed together. Passengers on the four flights are listed under their flight numbers, and first responders with their units. The process for arranging the names was finalized in a 2006 agreement, replacing an earlier plan to arrange the names randomly. According to Edith Lutnick (executive director of the Cantor Fitzgerald Relief Fund), "Your loved ones' names are surrounded by the names of those they sat with, those they worked with, those they lived with and, very possibly, those they died with." The six adult victims of the 1993 bombing are memorialized on Panel N-73 at the North Pool. The phrase "and her unborn child" follows the names of ten pregnant women who died on 9/11 and one who died in the 1993 attack.


The Survivor Tree

A
callery pear ''Pyrus calleryana'', or the Callery pear, is a species of pear tree native to China and Vietnam, in the family Rosaceae. It is most commonly known for its cultivar 'Bradford' and its offensive odor, widely planted throughout the United States an ...
tree recovered from the rubble at the World Trade Center site in October 2001 was later called the "Survivor Tree". When the -tall tree was recovered, it was badly burned and had one living branch. The tree had been planted during the 1970s near buildings four and five, in the vicinity of Church Street. Then-Memorial president Joe Daniels described it as "a key element of the memorial plaza's landscape". In November 2001, the tree was moved by the New York City Department of Parks and Recreation to the Arthur Ross Nursery in Van Cortlandt Park in the Bronx for care. It was then replanted in the Bronx on November 11, 2001. The tree was not expected to survive, but it showed signs of new growth the following spring. Although the memorial planning team intended to include the Survivor Tree, its permanent location was unknown at the time. Still under the care of the Bronx nursery, the tree was replanted without significant damage in March 2010 after it was uprooted by a storm. After the replanting, Mayor Michael Bloomberg said: "Again, we and the tree refused to throw in the towel. We replanted the tree, and it bounced back immediately." The Survivor Tree has become a symbol of hope and rebirth; according to Arthur Ross Nursery manager Richie Cabo, "It represents all of us." In an August 29, 2011 Port Authority press release (after Hurricane Irene), Daniels said: "True to its name, the Survivor Tree is standing tall at the Memorial." Keating Crown (a survivor of the attacks) said, "It reminds us all of the capacity of the human spirit to persevere." ''A Place of Remembrance: Official Book of the National September 11 Memorial'' describes the tree as "a reminder of the thousands of survivors who persevered after the attacks". In December 2010, the tree, then tall, was returned to the World Trade Center site in a ceremony attended by Bloomberg, city officials (including Parks and Recreation Commissioner Adrian Benepe and Port Authority executive director Chris Ward), survivors and rescue and recovery workers. Although the tree is a prominent part of the memorial, six other "survivor trees" have been planted near
New York City Hall New York City Hall is the Government of New York City, seat of New York City government, located at the center of City Hall Park in the Civic Center, Manhattan, Civic Center area of Lower Manhattan, between Broadway (Manhattan), Broadway, Park R ...
and the Manhattan end of the
Brooklyn Bridge The Brooklyn Bridge is a hybrid cable-stayed/ suspension bridge in New York City, spanning the East River between the boroughs of Manhattan and Brooklyn. Opened on May 24, 1883, the Brooklyn Bridge was the first fixed crossing of the East River ...
. Of these survivor trees, three are callery pears and three are little-leaf lindens.


Memorial Glade

In May 2018, plans were revealed for a path through a "memorial glade" at the National September 11 Memorial. The glade and path honors first responders who later got sick or died after inhaling toxins at the World Trade Center site. According to 9/11 Memorial & Museum president
Alice Greenwald Alice M. Greenwald is the current President and Chief Executive Officer of the National September 11 Memorial & Museum since January 2017. Greenwald was previously Director of the Memorial Museum/Executive and Vice President for Exhibitions, Coll ...
and former Daily Show host
Jon Stewart Jon Stewart (born Jonathan Stuart Leibowitz; November 28, 1962) is an American comedian, political commentator, and television host. He hosted ''The Daily Show'', a satirical news program on Comedy Central, from 1999 to 2015 and now hosts ''Th ...
, the path was to be located on the southwest side of the memorial plaza, at the approximate site of a temporary ramp that first responders used during the cleanup effort. The path includes six large battered stones that, in the words of Michael Arad, "appear to jut up and out of the plaza as if violently displaced, and convey strength and resistance". Several pieces of debris from the original World Trade Center were also placed along the path. The glade opened on May 24, 2019.


The Sphere

''The Sphere'', a monumental cast bronze sculpture by German artist
Fritz Koenig Fritz Koenig (20 June 1924 – 22 February 2017) was one of the most important international German sculptors of the 20th century. Koenig's main work and most famous work is ''The Sphere''. The world's largest bronze sculpture of modern tim ...
, was commissioned for the old World Trade Center and completed in 1971. It stood on the Austin J. Tobin Plaza until the September 11 attacks. The sculpture survived the attacks with relatively little damage. It was relocated to Liberty Park, adjacent to the Memorial, in 2017.


Controversies surrounding the Memorial


Mohammad Salman Hamdani

Although victims'-family groups agreed that names would be grouped by workplace or other affiliation, NYPD cadet Mohammad Salman Hamdani was not included with the other first responders or the other victims whose remains were found in the wreckage of the North Tower. His name appears on the memorial's panel S-66 for World Trade Center victims (next to a blank space along the South Tower perimeter), with those who did not fit into the groups created by the memorial committee or who had a loose connection to the World Trade Center. Hamdani's mother, Talat, has campaigned for the Memorial to acknowledge her son as a police cadet and first responder. Hamdani received a full police-department funeral after his body was found (months after the attacks), and 204th Street in Bayside, Queens, the street on which he lived was renamed in his honor.


Arabic-language brochures

Although the memorial's brochures were initially translated into at least ten languages, these languages did not include Arabic. The American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee (ADC) questioned this decision in letters to memorial directors, and ADC director of communications and advocacy Raed Jarrar said: "Our fear is that there is a political intention behind the exclusion". A memorial representative told the '' New York Post'', "As Arabic-speaking visitors currently represent our 25th-largest group, Arabic translations are not yet among the initial foreign-language editions." In 2015, the ADC made an official complaint with the
U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development The United States Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) is one of the executive departments of the U.S. federal government. It administers federal housing and urban development laws. It is headed by the Secretary of Housing and Urb ...
, which had given hundreds of millions of dollars in grants to the September 11 Memorial through
block grants A block grant is a grant-in-aid of a specified amount from a larger government to a smaller regional government body. Block grants have less oversight from the larger government and provide flexibility to each subsidiary government body in terms ...
to the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation. The committee stated that the Memorial's decision to not publish Arabic-language brochures violated HUD's Limited English Proficiency rules for grantees. In December 2017, the ADC announced that the Memorial had signed a settlement agreement whereby its commemorative guide would be translated into Arabic and made available.


Museum

The September 11 Museum was dedicated on May 15, 2014, and opened to the public on May 21. Its collection includes more than 40,000 images, 14,000 artifacts, more than 3,500 oral recordings, and over 500 hours of video.


History

The underground museum has artifacts from September 11, 2001, including steel from the Twin Towers (such as the Last Column, the last piece of steel to leave Ground Zero in May 2002). In December 2011, museum construction halted temporarily due to disputes between the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey and the National September 11 Memorial and Museum Foundation over responsibility for infrastructure costs. On March 13, 2012, talks on the issue began, and construction resumed on September 10, 2012. After a number of false opening reports, it was announced that the museum would open to the public on May 21, 2014. The museum was dedicated on May 15, 2014. In attendance were a range of dignitaries, from President Barack Obama, former President Bill Clinton, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and New York Governor Andrew Cuomo to former mayors David Dinkins,
Rudy Giuliani Rudolph William Louis Giuliani (, ; born May 28, 1944) is an American politician and lawyer who served as the 107th Mayor of New York City from 1994 to 2001. He previously served as the United States Associate Attorney General from 1981 to 198 ...
and
Michael Bloomberg Michael Rubens Bloomberg (born February 14, 1942) is an American businessman, politician, philanthropist, and author. He is the majority owner, co-founder and CEO of Bloomberg L.P. He was Mayor of New York City from 2002 to 2013, and was a ca ...
and then-mayor
Bill de Blasio Bill de Blasio (; born Warren Wilhelm Jr., May 8, 1961; later Warren de Blasio-Wilhelm) is an American politician who served as the 109th mayor of New York City from 2014 to 2021. A member of the Democratic Party, he held the office of New Yor ...
. During the hour-long ceremony LaChanze sang " Amazing Grace", which she dedicated to her husband Calvin Gooding, who was killed in the World Trade Center attack. During the five days between its dedication and the public opening, over 42,000 first responders and family members of 9/11 victims visited the museum. An opening ceremony for the museum was held on May 21, during which 24 police officers and firefighters unfurled the restored national 9/11 flag before it was brought into the museum for permanent display. The gates surrounding the museum were then taken down, marking their first removal since the attacks. Opening day tickets quickly sold out. Despite the museum's design to evoke memories without additional distress, counselors were available during its opening due to the large number of visitors.


Design

Designed by
Davis Brody Bond Davis Brody Bond is an American architectural firm headquartered in New York City, New York, with additional offices in Washington, DC and São Paulo, Brazil. The firm is named for Lewis Davis, Samuel Brody, and J. Max Bond Jr. and is le ...
, the museum is about below ground and accessible through a pavilion designed by Snøhetta. The National September 11 Memorial Museum encloses of publicly accessible space. The pavilion has a deconstructivist design, resembling a partially collapsed building (mirroring the attacks), and houses two "tridents" from the Twin Towers. One of the museum's walls is an exposed side of the slurry wall retaining the Hudson River, which remained intact through the September 11 attacks. About half of what
Daniel Libeskind Daniel Libeskind (born May 12, 1946) is a Polish–American architect, artist, professor and set designer. Libeskind founded Studio Daniel Libeskind in 1989 with his wife, Nina, and is its principal design architect. He is known for the design a ...
originally wanted to preserve of the wall is visible in the museum. Other Ground Zero artifacts include wrecked emergency vehicles (including a fire engine deformed from the collapse); pieces of metal from all seven World Trade Center buildings; recordings of survivors and first responders (including 911 calls); pictures of all victims; photographs from the wreckage and other media detailing the destruction (including the crashes, collapse, fires, those who jumped, and the cleanup). The museum is designed to evoke memories without additional distress, particularly to first responders and the victims’ families. '' The Huffington Post'' wrote that "walking through the museum is like being transported back to the turmoil, destruction and anguish of 9/11. Exhibits express the disbelief and heartache of New York and the nation."


Controversies surrounding the Museum


Little Syria

A neighborhood that was once called
Little Syria Little Syria ( ar, سوريا الصغيرة) was a diverse neighborhood that existed in the New York City borough of Manhattan from the late 1880s until the 1940s., pp.76-77; Two other sections of New York were singled out as particularly Syrian i ...
, a center of Christian Arab immigrant life in the United States beginning in the 1880s, once existed just south of the site of the World Trade Center. The cornerstone of St. Joseph's Lebanese Maronite Church was found under the rubble, next to
St. Nicholas Greek Orthodox Church The St. Nicholas Greek Orthodox Church, officially the St. Nicholas Greek Orthodox Church and National Shrine, is a church and shrine in the World Trade Center in Lower Manhattan, New York City. It is administered by the Greek Orthodox Archdi ...
at 157 Cedar Street. Both congregations were founded by Christians who had fled Ottoman oppression in the Middle East. Activists lobbied for the Museum to include a permanent exhibit about the neighborhood to "help the thousands of tourists who visit the site to understand that immigrants from Ottoman lands have played a patriotic role in the country's history," arguing that it was important to memorialize the
multiethnic A multinational state or a multinational union is a sovereign entity that comprises two or more nations or states. This contrasts with a nation state, where a single nation accounts for the bulk of the population. Depending on the definition of " ...
character of "Little Syria." The old Christian Syrian neighborhood was demolished in the 1940s due to the construction of the Brooklyn–Battery Tunnel.


Museum operation

General admission tickets to the museum are $24, a price which has raised concerns. Michael Bloomberg agreed, encouraging people to "write your congressman" for more federal funding. When the museum opened to victim families and first responders on May 15, 2014, anger by some that it was profiting from souvenirs considered in poor taste was widely covered. Souvenir proceeds would fund the museum and memorial.James Steve, (May 22, 2014)
"9/11 Museum Opens to Outrage Over Gift Shop, Cocktail Reception"
. NBC News.
On May 29, 2014, a U.S.-shaped cheese platter was among items removed for sale, and it was announced that all items sold would be reviewed by victim families for suitability. Families were further angered after a May 20, 2014 black-tie, VIP cocktail party for donors at the museum. Among the 60 attendees were former mayor Michael Bloomberg and representatives of Condé Nast. Family members objected to a party near unidentified remains; the sister of victim Robert Shay, Jr. tweeted, "Did you enjoy having drinks on top of my brother's grave last night?" Shay and dozens of other visitors were angered that first responders were turned away from the museum the previous day while staff prepared for the party. She said, "I am outraged that I can't visit my brother's final resting place without an appointment but people like Mike Bloomberg can wine and dine there whenever they want. This memorial and museum is sacred ground and last night it was desecrated." A retired FDNY fire marshal said, "You don't have cocktail parties at a cemetery." A mid-2014 proposal to open a Danny Meyer cafe in the museum's atrium was criticized.


Placement of unidentified remains

In an early-morning ceremony on May 10, 2014, the long-unidentified remains of 1,115 victims were transferred from the city medical examiner to Ground Zero, where they would be placed in a space in the bedrock below ground as part of the 9/11 Memorial Museum. Reaction from the victims' families to the move was divided, with some supporting the decision and others calling the location inappropriate. Among the latter was FDNY Lt. James McCaffrey, the brother-in-law of 9/11 victim and firefighter Orio Palmer, who called a ground-level tomb a more dignified location: "The decision to put the human remains of the 9/11 dead in this basement is inherently disrespectful and totally offensive." McCaffrey said that the remains deserved a prominence equal to that of the Memorial's trees and pools, and that the ceremony was held early in the morning because of opposition to the decision.


Withdrawn proposals

Two centers were proposed and withdrawn from the World Trade Center Memorial plan in 2005: * The
International Freedom Center The International Freedom Center (IFC) was a proposed museum to be located adjacent to the site of Ground Zero at the former World Trade Center in New York City, USA. It was selected in 2004 to comprise a "cultural space" near to the memorial f ...
 – a think tank intended to draw attention to battles for freedom throughout history. World Trade Center Memorial Foundation member
Deborah Burlingame Debra Burlingame (born 1954) is an American lawyer and political activist. She is the sister of Charles "Chic" Burlingame III, the pilot of the hijacked American Airlines Flight 77 that was flown into The Pentagon during the September 11 attacks ...
wrote in '' The Wall Street Journal'' that the center would have a mission with no direct connection to the events of September 11 and might criticize American policy. Right-wing blogs and commentators heavily criticized the center until Governor George Pataki withdrew support for it. * The
Drawing Center The Drawing Center is a Manhattan, New York, museum and a nonprofit exhibition space that focuses on the exhibition of drawings, both historical and contemporary. History The Drawing Center was founded by former assistant curator of drawings at ...
Art Gallery at the World Trade Center – an art gallery that was in SoHo at the time. Plans called for the Freedom Center to share space with the Drawing Center in a building known as the Cultural Center. Of the dispute over the proposed centers, one '' New York Times'' editorial stated not only that the IFC's opponents make trivial and unconvincing suggestions that both the IFC and the "cultural component" of architect
Daniel Libeskind Daniel Libeskind (born May 12, 1946) is a Polish–American architect, artist, professor and set designer. Libeskind founded Studio Daniel Libeskind in 1989 with his wife, Nina, and is its principal design architect. He is known for the design a ...
's plans would somehow diminish the scope of the Memorial Museum, but also that the proposal for reducing the size of one of the centers had failed to consider the emotional impact of the space.


Gallery

27.12.2016_North_Tower_911_Memorial_Panorama.jpg, Panorama of Panel N-62 and N-63, North Pool File:North Tower Fountain National September 11 Memorial & Museum (Sept. 17, 2011).jpg, North Pool with construction of One World Trade Center, September 2011 File:New York - National September 11 Memorial South Pool - April 2012 - 9693C.jpg, South Pool with construction of the museum, April 2012. Tower 3, Tower 4, and Tower 7 are in the background. File:Sep11mem.ParkNY.jpg, Memorial park File:Another view of "The Bathtub" at the 9-11 Memorial in NYC IMG_5798.JPG, Remnant of the original Slurry Wall in the Bathtub at the museum File:Vesey Street Stairs Remnant, National 9-11 Memorial IMG_5785.JPG, Remnant of the
Survivors' Staircase The Survivors' Staircase was the last visible remaining original structure above ground level at the World Trade Center site. It was originally an outdoor flight of granite-clad stairs and two escalators which connected Vesey Street to the World ...
, or
Vesey Street Vesey Street ( ) is a street in New York City that runs east-west in Lower Manhattan. The street is named after Rev. William Vesey (1674-1746), the first rector of nearby Trinity Church. History The intersection of Vesey and West Streets was ...
Stairs File:White-rose-at-9-11-memorial.JPG, White rose at the memorial
File:12.6.11BerryBerensonPanelN-76ByLuigiNovi5.jpg, Panel N-76: the name of
Berry Berenson Berinthia "Berry" Berenson-Perkins ( Berenson; April 14, 1948 – September 11, 2001) was an American actress, model and photographer. She was the widow of actor Anthony Perkins. She died in the September 11 attacks as a passenger on Americ ...
File:4.28.12Feb93BombingPanelN-73ByLuigiNovi2.jpg, Panel N-73: names of the victims of the 1993 bombing
File:12.6.11BillBiggartPanelS-66ByLuigiNovi1.jpg, Panel S-66: the name of
Bill Biggart William G. Biggart (July 20, 1947 – September 11, 2001) was an American freelance photojournalist and a victim of the September 11 attacks, notable for his street-view photographs of the event before being killed by the collapse of the World Tr ...
File:12.6.11DavidLemagnePanelS-29ByLuigiNovi7.jpg, Panel S-29: tribute to the
Jersey City Fire Department The Jersey City Fire Department is the largest fire department in the state of New Jersey and provides fire protection, hazardous materials services, and first responder emergency medical services to the city of Jersey City. In all, the departme ...
File:12.6.11PeterJGanciJrPanelS-17ByLuigiNovi2.jpg, Panel S-17: the name of
Peter J. Ganci, Jr. Peter James Ganci Jr. (October 27, 1946 – September 11, 2001) was a career firefighter in the New York City Fire Department killed in the September 11 attacks. At the time of the attacks, he held the rank of fire chief, Chief of Department, the ...
File:12.6.11ToddBeamerPanelS-68ByLuigiNovi9.jpg, Panel S-68: the name of Todd Beamer File:I National September 11 Memorial South Pool, New York City, NY, USA (2).jpg, Panel S-67: the name of Mark Bingham File:4.28.12BinghamGlickPanelS-67ByLuigiNovi2.jpg, Panel S-67: the name of
Jeremy Glick Jeremy Logan Glick (September 3, 1970 – September 11, 2001) was an American passenger on board United Airlines Flight 93, which was hijacked and crashed as part of the September 11 attacks. Aware of the earlier attacks at the World Trade Center, ...
File:4.28.12ThomasEBurnettPanelS-68ByLuigiNovi3.jpg, Panel S-68: the name of Tom Burnett


Other 9/11 memorials

In addition to the one at Ground Zero, a number of other memorials have been built by communities across the United States. Many are built around remnants of steel from the Twin Towers which have been donated by a Port Authority of New York and New Jersey program; over 1,000 pieces of World Trade Center steel have been distributed.


See also

* Memorials and services for the September 11 attacks *
Allison Gilbert Allison Gilbert is an American journalist and author. She is the author and co-author of five non-fiction books including the biography with Julia Scheeres of Elsie Robinson, ''Listen World!: How the Intrepid Elsie Robinson Became America’s Most ...
, journalist and voice of the National September 11 Memorial & Museum audio tour *
Pamela Stafford Pamela Stafford (born 1946) is an American model, fashion designer and portrait artist. She is best known for her award winning work ''New Hope'', the winner of a mural award by the Abbey Foundation. Personal life and education Pamela Stafford w ...
, creator of ''New Hope'' mural * Casualties of the September 11 attacks * The Outsider (2021 film)


References


External links

*
Photos of the memorialThe 9/11 memorial – Interview and footage of the WTC siteGoogle Virtual Tour of the National September 11 MuseumMichael Arad 9/11 Memorial Papers at N-YHS
{{DEFAULTSORT:National September 11 Memorial And Museum Museums established in 2014 Cemeteries in Manhattan History museums in New York City Tourist attractions in Manhattan Memorials for the September 11 attacks Monuments and memorials in Manhattan Museums in Manhattan Public benefit corporations in New York (state) World Trade Center 2014 establishments in New York City West Side Highway Individual trees in New York City