A Look Inside the 9/11 Memorial Museum

Its nearest equivalent I can think of is the dynamic of religious pilgrimage sites, whether Christian churches, Buddhist temples or Sufi shrines. There, the mortal remains of saints, and objects sanctified by their touch, are the focus of attention. Here, you also walk a long, sanctified route, stopping at the equivalent of side chapels and altars, contemplating icons, talismans and embodied miracles: a pair of crossed steel ground zero girders that to some eyes formed a crucifix, a Bible found fused to a hunk of steel and opened to a passage that warns against repaying violence with violence.

Recordings from people around the world recounting their memory of September 11, 2001. The exhibition is comprised of 28 languages and 48 countries.

Recovered from the World Trade Center Site after September 11, 2001, these steel "tridents" once formed part of the exterior structural support of the east façade of 1 World Trade Center (North Tower). Welded to box columns at bedrock, 70 feet below street level, these branched from one column into three prongs at the fifth story. They are located in the Museum's entry pavilion.

Assigned to aid in the evacuation of civilians in the North Tower on 9/11, members of FDNY Ladder Company 3 are known to have reached the 35th floor by 9:21 a.m. All 11 responding members of Ladder Company 3 were killed inside the North Tower when it collapsed at 10:28 a.m. The front cab of this fire truck was shorn off when the North Tower collapsed. The bumper and a door were later removed and displayed as a memorial in Ladder Company 3's quarters on East 13th Street in Manhattan. The inscription "JEFF WE WILL NOT FORGET YOU!" was painted by a firefighter related to Jeffrey John Giordano, a Ladder Company 3 member who was killed on 9/11.

This piece of steel, once part of the façade of the North Tower, was located at the point of impact where hijacked Flight 11 pierced the building from floors 93 through 99. A companion piece of façade steel from floors 93 through 96 is displayed in the South Tower Excavation.

The letters of the quotation from Virgil's "Aeneid" were forged out of remnant World Trade Center steel by New Mexico blacksmith Tom Joyce (American, b. 1956).

This 19.8-foot-long fragment was about one-twentieth of the 360-foot-tall transmission tower atop the North Tower. Six broadcast engineers affiliated with five television stations were working from offices on floors 104 and 110 of the North Tower on 9/11. None of the engineers survived. Transmissions for most stations failed shortly after hijacked Flight 11 pierced the North Tower. All transmissions ceased by 10:28 a.m., when the tower collapsed.

This column once stood in the core of the South Tower, approximately between floors 30 and 33. During the tower's collapse, extreme stresses caused this piece of steel to fold over onto itself. Three of the four welds that held the column together split open.
Visitors are welcome to write messages on the interactive tables located in front of the South Tower column, which will be projected onto the wall.

As the recovery at the World Trade Center site neared completion, the Last Column, a 58-ton, 36-foot- tall piece of welded plate steel, was removed from the site in a solemn ceremony on May 30, 2002. In the weeks that followed, recovery workers, first responders, volunteers and victims' relatives signed the column and affixed to it memorial messages, photographs, and other tributes.

Part of the World Trade Center's original foundation, this wall was built to keep the Hudson River from flooding the site by creating a bathtub-like enclosure of reinforced cement. At the time of the slurry wall's construction, the engineering employed to create it was considered an innovative method for building sturdy reinforced concrete walls at sites close to water.

The Vesey Street stairs, or Survivors' Stairs, once connected the northern edge of the World Trade Center Plaza to the Vesey Street sidewalk below. On September 11, 2001, the stairs and an adjacent escalator provided an unobstructed exit for hundreds seeking to escape.

This program highlights the experiences of recovery workers at the World Trade Center site through a series of personal accounts and archival film footage.

A bicycle rack located on Vesey Street at the northern edge of the complex was shielded from the impact of cascading debris by 5 World Trade Center. In the aftermath of 9/11, only one owner stepped forward to claim his bicycle, still locked to the rack. The status of other owners and riders is unknown.

This walkway displays items of tribute, memorial and remembrance from around the world.

Dust, ash, and debris from the collapsed Twin Towers filled the interior of Chelsea Jeans, a retail store on Broadway near Fulton Street. Store owner David Cohen resolved to capture the moment in time by maintaining part of the store as it appeared after 9/11.

When hijacked Flight 11 struck the North Tower, it severed elevator cables and trapped hundreds of people above floor 93. Below the impact zone, most on floors lower than 92 were able to evacuate via the stairs. This elevator motor, the largest model in the world when installed, powered one of the express or service cars, which moved at a speed of 1,600 feet per minute.

FDNY Engine Company 21 was dispatched to the World Trade Center after hijacked Flight 175 struck the South Tower. The company's truck was parked on Vesey Street under a pedestrian overpass, with the cab exposed. The front of the vehicle was damaged by flaming debris.

Operating engineers used grappler claws to lift tangled steel and debris from the pile at Ground Zero. "Spotters" worked alongside them, scrutinizing each load for human remains.