National September 11 Memorial & Museum description and photos - USA: New York (Topic)

National September 11 Memorial & Museum description and photos - USA: New York. Detailed information about the attraction. Description, photographs and a map showing the nearest significant objects. The title in English is National September 11 Memorial & Museum.

Photo and Description

The National 9/11 Memorial and Museum are located in Manhattan, where hijacked planes crashed into the World Trade Center towers in 2001, killing nearly 3,000 people. It is a sad, austere and very beautiful place.

On the morning of September 11, 2001, al-Qaeda hijacked four passenger airliners, which were filled with jet fuel for a long-distance flight to California. Two planes crashed into the WTC towers. First, the southern tower, engulfed in flames, collapsed, half an hour later - the northern one. The terrorists sent the third plane to the Pentagon. The fourth was approaching Washington, but its passengers entered into a desperate battle with the hijackers, and the liner crashed in Pennsylvania.

All passengers on these flights were killed, more than a hundred people in the Pentagon, over 2600 - in the collapsed towers. Most of those killed at the WTC were above the point of impact - they were trapped and doomed. About 200 people made a fatal jump from the windows, not wanting to be burned alive. Hundreds of firefighters, policemen and doctors died in the fire and under the rubble. The victims included citizens of 90 countries.

In 2003, an international competition for the best design of the memorial was announced. Won the project by architect Michael Arad called "Reflecting Absence" - its implementation began in 2006. The central element of the memorial is two deep pools located exactly on the site of the former twin towers, where colossal waterfalls collapse. The impression is that living streams of water disappear into oblivion. The sound of water and the rustle of white oak trees planted around completely drown out the sounds of the city. On the parapets of the pools, bronze plates are fixed on which the names of all the victims of the terrorist attack are inscribed.

A huge glass prism of the entrance to the museum sparkles next to the pools (it should open in September 2013). A tree surviving the crash grows near it. During the attack, the Chinese pear was badly burned, it had only one living branch left. Now the tree is blooming again.

At the entrance to the museum, the visitor will see two giant tridents - the surviving steel columns of the twin towers. A gentle slope-path will lead underground, to quiet memorial halls.

The central exhibit of the museum will be a genuine staircase, along which hundreds of victims tried to escape from the fire. On two pieces of steel recovered from the wreckage of the north tower, it will be possible to see the prints of the crashed planes.

We also recommend reading Arkoi island description and photos - Greece: Patmos island

Topic: National September 11 Memorial & Museum description and photos - USA: New York.