About 9/11 Museum | History, Facts, Inside & Much More

As the visitors access the exhibits of the 9/11 Museum via a ramp, they will come across a historic remnant called the Survivor’s Stairs. This staircase helped hundreds of people to flee the site during the 9/11 attack. After the attack, these stairs were going to be destroyed but were saved after the federal review process termed them as a historical asset. Visitors arriving at the main exhibition and the educational level follow these stairs that saved the lives of hundreds of survivors.

Memorial Hall, located between the prints of the two Twin Towers, houses two artworks. Inside the Memorial Hall, you will find a quote forged by Tom Joyce from the steel of the recovered WTC. The quote ‘No day shall erase you from the memory of time’ talks about the 9/11 Museum’s promise to remember the thousands of lives lost during the 9/11 attack and the 1993 World Trade Center attack. The artwork by Spencer Finch surrounds the quote which is a panoramic mosaic of colored paper panels.

Foundation Hall is the largest space in the 9/11 tribute museum that is located beside the North Tower footprint. This hall features a slurry hall that holds the Hudson River. It symbolizes strength and resilience as this wall didn’t break during the 9/11 attack too. At the center, you will find a 36-feet steel Last Column that was the final part of the World Trade Center to be removed after the attack. This column is now covered with mementos, signatures, and inscriptions as a remembrance.

Little Syria was a neighborhood in New York City that housed Christian Arab immigrants and was located to the south of the World Trade Center. Adjacent to St. Nicholas Greek Orthodox Church, the cornerstone of St. Joseph’s Lebanese Maronite Church was discovered buried under the rubble. Several activists brought attention to this neighborhood and tried to persuade the 9/11 Museum to include a permanent exhibit about this site. They argued that thousands of visitors visiting the 9/11 Museum NYC should understand the patriotic role of immigrants from the Ottoman lands in U.S history.

When the museum was opened, the victims’ families and first responders raised concern over the 9/11 museum tickets priced at $24. Many were also angered to learn that several souvenirs in poor taste were being sold at the museum for funding. On 29th May 2014, a U.S-shaped cheese platter was removed from the list of souvenir items. Also, it was decided that the victims’ families would review the souvenir items for sale.

On the morning of 14th May 2014, the remains of 1,115 unidentified victims were transferred to Ground Zero. They were placed in the space of the bedrock 70 feet below the ground inside the 9/11 Museum. There was a divided reaction to this move and a silent protest was held by those against it. The protestors thought it to be disrespectful to the victims and their families for unidentified remains to be placed in the basement of a museum and not a beautiful memorial.