NEW YORK—The stairs that led many World Trade Center workers to safety during the terrorist attacks on Sept. 11, 2001 moved to a new home on Thursday in the National September 11 Memorial & Museum that is now under construction.
The Museum and the Port Authority moved the stairs by crane from storage at the WTC site to its new location 150 feet to the north. Its journey took two legs: one to a temporary midpoint location and a second to its final resting place. Known as the Survivors’ Stairs, the structure weighs 57 tons and stands more than 20 feet tall.
The stairs are the first artifact from ground zero to be moved into the Museum. There, it will become part of the Museum’s building as an “authentic ’silent witness’ to the events of 9/11,” according to the Memorial website.
The memorial will consist of two pools enclosed by 30-foot man-made waterfalls set within the former foundations of the Twin Towers. The names of the 2,981 people who died in the Sept. 11 and Feb. 1993 attacks on the World Trade Center will be inscribed on the edges of the pools. The rest of the eight-acre memorial site will be filled with 400 trees to create an environment for quiet contemplation.
The construction of the Museum is being overseen by the Port Authority, which released their timetable for construction in October. The Memorial is targeted for completion in 2011 in time for the 10th anniversary of the terrorist attacks.
The removal of the stairs from the WTC site will allow the 460-foot ramp that reaches into the site to be disassembled, thereby clearing the space for construction of the memorial’s steel framework.
Please visit www.national911memorial.org for more information.
The Museum and the Port Authority moved the stairs by crane from storage at the WTC site to its new location 150 feet to the north. Its journey took two legs: one to a temporary midpoint location and a second to its final resting place. Known as the Survivors’ Stairs, the structure weighs 57 tons and stands more than 20 feet tall.
The stairs are the first artifact from ground zero to be moved into the Museum. There, it will become part of the Museum’s building as an “authentic ’silent witness’ to the events of 9/11,” according to the Memorial website.
The memorial will consist of two pools enclosed by 30-foot man-made waterfalls set within the former foundations of the Twin Towers. The names of the 2,981 people who died in the Sept. 11 and Feb. 1993 attacks on the World Trade Center will be inscribed on the edges of the pools. The rest of the eight-acre memorial site will be filled with 400 trees to create an environment for quiet contemplation.
The construction of the Museum is being overseen by the Port Authority, which released their timetable for construction in October. The Memorial is targeted for completion in 2011 in time for the 10th anniversary of the terrorist attacks.
The removal of the stairs from the WTC site will allow the 460-foot ramp that reaches into the site to be disassembled, thereby clearing the space for construction of the memorial’s steel framework.
Please visit www.national911memorial.org for more information.
