CULTURE AND SOCIETY

National September 11 Memorial Museum

MEMORIAL
The National September 11 Memorial is a memorial commemorating the people who died during the terrorist attacks of February 26, 1993 and September 11, 2001.
In the first attack, a bomb truck exploded in the underground parking lot of the World Trade Center and caused six deaths and 1,042 injuries. Dramatic and in everyone’s memory was the day of September 11, 2001 when nineteen terrorists hijacked four civilian planes. Two of them crashed into the twin towers of the center, the third against the Pentagon while the fourth crashed into a meadow in western Pennsylvania thanks to the revolt of passengers, who learned of the other attacks rebelled against the hijackers. Altogether there were 2,977 deaths from 90 nations aged between 2 and 85 years. Four hundred were the victims among the rescuers who came to bring help after the attacks.
The monument, inaugurated on the 10th anniversary of the attack, was designed by the architect Michael Arad and the landscape architect Peter Walker. The project was selected through an international competition in which 5,201 proposals from 63 countries participated. It consists of two large swimming pools that occupy the area where the twin towers used to rise and at the sides of each of them a waterfall descends nine meters high, the water flows into the pool and then disappears into a central cavity that symbolizes the loss of many lives. The sides are protected by bronze parapets on which are written the names of the victims. The area is covered by 400 white oaks of swamp with trees selected from nurseries within a radius of 800 km from the three sites affected. Among these is the survivors’ tree, the Survivor Tree, a Callery pear tree that was located near Church St. and was found severely damaged and reduced to just over a two-meter trunk. It was recovered and cared for in a city park and has now grown to be more than nine meters high.
MUSEUM
The museum designed by the architect Davis Brody Bond, has a main exhibition divided into three parts: the day 9/11, before and after 9/11. The exhibition tells the story of all four planes that were diverted that tragic day and explores the scenario before the event and examines the consequences and implications for the future.
The commemorative exhibition, named In Memoriam, commemorates the lives of those who died on September 11, 2001 and February 26, 1993 and offers visitors the opportunity to learn about the history of these people.

References

Kenneth T. Jackson, Lisa Keller, Nancy Flood. The Encyclopedia of New York City: Second Edition. Yale University Press, 2010. pp. 883-884
National September 11 Memorial & Museum (Wikipedia)