9/11 Memorial Museum Opens to Public on May 21

World Today

The 9/11 Memorial Museum located where the terrorist attacks occurred on September 11th 2001 opens to the public on May 21st. The exhibit marks a solemn period in America’s history, one that was experienced all around the world. Karina Huber got to tour the exhibit and has this report.

9/11 Memorial Museum Opens to Public on May 21

The 9/11 Memorial Museum located where the terrorist attacks occurred on September 11th 2001 opens to the public on May 21st. The exhibit marks a solemn period in America's history, one that was experienced all around the world. Karina Huber got to tour the exhibit and has this report.

America’s top dignitaries attend the dedication of the 9/11 Memorial Museum which sits on sacred ground – the former site of the World Trade Center.
Very little remains of the Twin Towers, which collapsed in the terrorist attacks almost 13 years ago but what does is largely a part of the new exhibit.
This trident once formed part of the exterior of the North Tower hit by American Airlines flight, now it serves as the entry point for the museum.
The exhibit houses large structural pieces like “The Last Column” – which was the last one removed from the site in 2002 and the staircase used by hundreds of fleeing survivors.
But it also includes smaller intimate pieces like the shoes survivors wore while running away from the collapsing buildings.
“The exhibit aims to both educate people about what happened on September 11th and memorialize those who perished in the attacks including the many police officers and fire fighters. As we can see here. we’ve got the Company Ladder 3 truck. Everyone on that truck perished on that day.”
Nearly 3000 people including almost 350 firefighters and paramedics were killed that day.
Paula Berry, Relative of 9/11 Victim, saying: “I lost my husband David Berry.”
Paula Berry is one of many relatives who helped advise the museum.
“It’s incredibly powerful and poignant to have the museum finally complete. It is a remarkable space. The care that has been taken to make it a place for everybody in a way is really remarkable.”
While the terrorist attacks took place on U.S. soil it was experienced globally. Over 90 nations lost people in the attacks. The exhibit opens with audio recordings of people around the world recounting their memories of 9/11 in different languages.
Tom Hennes, Lead Exhibition Designer, said: “The introductory exhibit was conceived as a way of bringing the narrative that people have in common into the foreground as we enter the museum in saying ‘this is something we all witnessed’.
While the exhibit illustrates humanity in its darkest form, it also aspires to be uplifting by showing the global outpouring of support in the days that followed.
Alice Greenwald, 9/11 Memorial Museum Director, said:”9/11 or 9/12 if you will is also a lens into the best of who we can be. That’s what this museum is about.”
Organizers of the museum hope that the space will be a place of healing for everyone touched by the events of that day and the days that followed.
Paula Berry said, “There are things down there that will remind me and bring back the day as if it was yesterday and then of course I’m living a life and it’s been 13 years.”
The opening of the museum marks the end of a painful chapter in America’s history while future generations never forget what happened on 9/11.