Museum Dedication

Since the known readership of this blogs consists of approximately 5 people, you all know I work at the 9/11 Memorial & Museum and you have all heard, I'm sure, we opened last week.  Finally.

Thursday the 15th was the dedication ceremony with elected officials like President Obama and Mayors Giuliani, Bloomberg, and DeBlasio.  I cannot find the full video of the ceremony online...sorry.  It was a very well done program, I thought.  After the ceremony the guests were the first to visit the exhibitions following the dedication.  Even though I had been down to the exhibitions over and over during the last several months with the object installation, seeing it all finished and clean was quite powerful. 

Each staff member was allowed two guest passes for the Dedication Period which was a five day period running 24/7 and reserved for 9/11 family members, first responders, survivors, lower Manhattan residents, and other groups that participated in the creation of the museum like contractors, object handlers, collection donors, etc.  I took Dan as my guest on Friday which was the first full day of dedication period.

The Museum consists of primarily two exhibitions.  The first is the Historical Exhibition and it recounts the events of 9/11, the history of the towers, the events that lead to the attacks, and the rescue and recovery period.  Dan and I went to this exhibition first and we spent 3 hours walking through the space which occupies the area of the footprint of the North Tower.  It was crowded and we stopped to listen to a lot of the audio pieces but overall it was very exhausting to spend that much time in there, and we only read about 40% of the text.  I was familiar with all of the material and the layout but going through it as a visitor and with a visitor experiencing it for the first time was totally different.  The night we went there was a no photography policy being enforced so we didn't get any photos.  However, a few days later when I was working down there the policy was changed so I was able to take a few shots. 

We decided not to visit the other exhibition areas because it was already after 9:00 pm.  The parts Dan didn't see are the Memorial Exhibition which is dedicated to the victims and contains portraits of all of the victims on the walls, covering floor to ceiling.  There are interactive tables where you can look up an individuals name and see photographs and mementos related to the lives as they were lived and hear audio remembrances from friends and family. 

There is also an archeological walkway where you can see remnants from the original foundation of the Towers and see videos about the building of the Towers. 

The large Foundation Hall is where you see the Last Column which was the last piece of steel removed from the site and signed by many of the rescue and recovery workers.  There are large artifacts such as damaged fire trucks, part of the communication antenna from the top of the North Tower and an elevator motor.

My favorite part of the exhibition is the second part that shows the life of the Towers.  There is the original architectural model of the WTC complex and the walls are covered in movie posters and photographs featuring the Twin Towers.  The cases are filled with souvenirs and other objects sold with depicting the New York skyline with the Towers.  Its a nice light and happier area of the museum. 

If you come visit Dan and me and you want to see the museum, I'll give you the insiders tour with extra details not covered in the exhibition script.  7/10 of my free tickets are already spoken for so the remaining tickets are first come first served.