National September 11 Memorial & Museum

National September 11 Memorial & Museum
Plaza and museum in 2012
General information
Status	Open
Type	Memorial and museum
Location	180 Greenwich Street, New York, NY 10007 United States
Coordinates	40°42′42.1″N 74°0′49.0″W / 40.711694°N 74.013611°W / 40.711694; -74.013611Coordinates: 40°42′42.1″N 74°0′49.0″W / 40.711694°N 74.013611°W / 40.711694; -74.013611
Construction started	March 2006
Opening	Memorial: September 11, 2011 (Victims' families) September 12, 2011 (Public) Museum: May 15, 2014 (Dedication and victims' families) May 21, 2014 (Public)
Height
Roof	Memorial: The footprints of the Twin Towers are underground. Museum: Pavilion is from 20 to 23 metres (66 to 75 ft) high.
Design and construction
Architect	Michael Arad of Handel Architects Peter Walker and Partners Davis Brody Bond Snøhetta
Structural engineer	WSP Global BuroHappold Engineering (Museum)
Website
www.911memorial.org

The National September 11 Memorial & Museum (also known as the 9/11 Memorial and 9/11 Memorial Museum) are the principal memorial and museum, respectively. They commemorate the September 11, 2001 attacks, which killed 2,977 victims, and the World Trade Center bombing of 1993, which killed six. The memorial is located at the World Trade Center site, the former location of the Twin Towers, which were destroyed during the September 11 attacks. It is operated by a non-profit corporation whose mission is to raise funds for, program, own, and operate the memorial and museum at the World Trade Center site.

A memorial was planned in the immediate aftermath of the attacks and destruction of the World Trade Center for the victims including those involved in rescue operations. The winner of the World Trade Center Site Memorial Competition was Israeli architect Michael Arad of Handel Architects, a New York- and San Francisco-based firm. Arad worked with landscape-architecture firm Peter Walker and Partners on the design, a forest of trees with two square pools in the center where the Twin Towers stood. In August 2006, the World Trade Center Memorial Foundation and the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey began heavy construction on the memorial and museum. The design is consistent with the original Daniel Libeskind master plan, which called for the memorial to be 30 feet (9.1 m) below street level—originally 70 feet (21 m)—in a plaza, and was the only finalist to disregard Libeskind's requirement that the buildings overhang the footprints of the Twin Towers. The World Trade Center Memorial Foundation was renamed the National September 11 Memorial & Museum in 2007.

On September 11, 2011, a dedication ceremony commemorating the tenth anniversary of the attacks was held at the memorial. It opened to the public the following day; the museum was dedicated on May 15, 2014 and opened on May 21. Three months after its opening, the memorial had been visited by over a million people. In 2012, the 9/11 Tribute Center collaborated with the 9/11 Memorial to offer private tours, which are hosted by family members of victims, first responders, and survivors.