Sept. 11 underground Museum

angelburst29

The Living Force
After reading this article, of a cavernous museum displaying powerful artifacts of death and destruction (mangled and twisted pieces of steel) along with a battered staircase ( the "survivor's stairs ) that leads deep underground to the bedrock base the Twin Tower's were built on and where the exhibits will be displayed, I doubt I would ever be a visitor to this "museum." Just by the author's description, it sounds like a horror dungeon in an epic medieval novel, complete with artifacts of torture and an atmosphere of fear, insanity and hopelessness.

I can't imagine, being a survivor who had lost a loved one, who's body was never recovered from the rubble and debris, visiting this "underground museum?" This museum isn't "a celebration in memory to the life and activities of those who were lost and destroyed that fateful day", but a display of death and destruction on a large scale.


Sept. 11 underground Museum

http://news.yahoo.com/sept-11-museum-putting-hallowed-artifacts-place-001111981.html

NEW YORK (AP) — Far below the earth where the twin towers once stood, a cavernous museum on hallowed ground is finally nearing completion.

Amid the construction machinery and the dust, powerful artifacts of death and destruction have assumed their final resting places inside the National September 11 Memorial & Museum.

A vast space that travels down to the bedrock upon which the towers were built, the museum winds its way deeper and deeper underground, taking visitors on a journey to the very bottom.

Already on display are several pieces of mangled steel and metal recovered from the World Trade Center towers, each one telling a different story of the terror attacks that killed nearly 3,000 people.

The first relics that visitors will see are two massive pieces of structural steel that rose from the base of the North Tower. Now the rusty red columns soar above ground into the sunlit glass atrium that encloses the entrance to the museum.

"They're so large — about 70 feet tall — that we built the museum around them," explained Joseph Daniels, president of the memorial and museum.

Down a long ramp, visitors will peer down to glimpse the last piece of steel removed from ground zero in 2002, which sits inside a gaping silvery chamber that drops to the lowest level of the museum.

Further down the ramp, visitors will discover a mangled and twisted piece of steel that Daniels calls "impact steel." That's because this piece of the building was actually destroyed by the impact of Flight 11 slamming into the North Tower.

"You can see how, at the bottom, the columns are bent back," Daniels said. "That's because Flight 11's nose, when it pierced the building, it bent steel like that."

Perhaps the most chilling part of the museum, in its current form, is a battered staircase that leads down to bedrock, where the exhibits will be displayed. Sandwiched between an escalator and a staircase that will be used by museum visitors, the "survivor's stairs" provided an escape route for hundreds of people who fled from the towers on Sept. 11, 2001.

"You're literally following the same pathway that hundreds followed on 9/11 to survival, to safety," said museum director Alice Greenwald. "In some respects, what we're saying to our visitors is, we all live in a world now that was defined by this event. And in that sense, we're all survivors of 9/11."

There are more relics, some of them shrouded in plastic or white drapery, awaiting their public debut:

The "flag steel" shaped like a ribbon that resembled a flag blowing in the breeze. The T-shaped steel column and crossbeam that became known as the "World Trade Center cross," a piece of the rubble that became a symbol of hope to hundreds of recovery workers.

The fire truck from Engine Company 21, whose cab was destroyed while the rest of the truck remained intact.

When completed in the spring, the museum will transport people through time from events leading to the 9/11 attacks all the way to the current events of today. And even when its doors open, the museum will always remain a work in progress.

"This is a museum, I like to say, that's not about answers," Greenwald said. "It's a museum about questions. And we end with questions, and we then invite the public to participate in that dialogue."
 
NYC 911 Museum opens to Public in May 2014
_http://www.mail.com/news/us/2596626-nyc-911-museum-opens-to-public.html#.7518-stage-hero1-6

After years of delays due to funding disputes, engineering challenges and a nearly disastrous flood, a museum dedicated to victims of the 9/11 terror attacks will open to the public in mid-May in a giant cavern beneath the World Trade Center site — with a world-class admissions price of $24.

National 9/11 Memorial and Museum President Joe Daniels said Friday that tickets would go on sale for the museum in March for the spring opening. That $24 price is in line with other major tourist attractions in New York City. It costs $18 to take a ferry to the Statue of Liberty, $25 to see the Museum of Modern Art and $27 to visit the observation deck of the Empire State Building.

But the fee drew protests from critics, including some relatives of 9/11 victims, who said the high price would keep average Americans out. Unlike many other big museums in the city, there won't be the option of paying less than the "suggested donation."

New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio was among those who expressed displeasure. "I'd like to see them do better," he told reporters Friday. But he also said the best way to lower the admissions charge would be for the federal government to cover a portion of the museum's operating expenses.

"I think we deserve substantial federal funding at this museum," de Blasio said. "What could be a more nationally important site than this? It's a national tragedy and people come from all over the country, all over the world, to see it."

Under the pricing plan approved by the foundation's board, there will be no admission charge for relatives of 9/11 victims or for many thousands of construction workers, police officers, firefighters, and others who assisted in the rescue and cleanup operation at ground zero. Children under age 5 and under will also get in free. Admission will also be free for everyone between the hours of 5 p.m. and 8 p.m. on Tuesdays.

There will continue to be no charge to enter the World Trade Center memorial plaza, which is already open. About 5.3 million people visited the plaza this year to see the two huge fountains that sit in the original footprints of the twin towers.

The foundation set an annual budget Thursday of $63 million to operate the museum and plaza. As of now, all of that money will have to come from admissions fees and private donations. Some 9/11 families have been critical of the foundation, saying the steep ticket charge is a disgrace. Retired Deputy Fire Chief Jim Riches and Sally Regenhard, who each lost firefighter sons in the attacks, have lobbied for the entire site to be turned over to the National Parks Service.
 
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