The National 9/11 Memorial Museum, located at the former site of the World Trade Center in New York, was opened in May 2014 to honor the nearly 3,000 people that were killed on September 11, 2001, in one of the worst terrorist attack in the country. The Museum’s 110,000 square feet of exhibition space located 70 feet below ground level, at the foundations of the original twin towers, tell the story of 9/11 through a variety of multimedia displays, archives, narratives and a rich collection of monumental and authentic artifacts. The museum houses more than 10,000 artifacts salvaged from the destroyed buildings – from personal mementos such as a teddy bear, an unposted letter, a shoe, to large artifacts like mangled pieces of steel from the collapsed towers, an elevator motor, wrecked fire engines and pieces of plane.

The remnant of a firetruck that was damaged in the September 11 attacks. Photo credit