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u/i_can_cook 9h ago
The waterfalls aren't the true size of the buildings, they are 31% smaller.
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u/soaker 8h ago edited 8h ago
Ohh ok. I was just thinking “those holes seem really small”. I didn’t know they’re waterfalls
(Guys I’m not from the US. This isn’t common knowledge here)
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u/NoticeMeSenpai_U 8h ago
Honestly, it’s probably not common knowledge here in the US either lol
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u/topoftheworldIAM 8h ago
True. But the new building has the same base 200 ft by 200 ft.
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u/GyozaGangsta 2h ago edited 2h ago
If you go to the museum, which is underground there, you can walk the footings/perimeter of the towers, each buildings footing homes a piece of the museum. (Which as mentioned is way larger than the fountains, I was shocked by how big the buildings were)
The museum is extremely well done and very heart wrenching.
Basically where one tower was there is a memorial to all those who were lost that day, a picture of nearly every person in large room with a movie theater like room in the center playing stories of the victims shared by their loved ones. Nearly every visitor I’ve ever seen in that room is crying.
The other tower is organized like a timeline as you walk about it takes you through the day(and events leading up to and after).
It’s definitely worth visiting and spending a day or so in
Some very incredible stories and context.
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u/LickableLeo 1h ago
Going there is the most somber place I’ve ever been, even as a teenager I really felt the weight of being there
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u/Abaddon33 1h ago
The only places I have ever been that compare to the atmosphere are Arlington and the Holocaust Museum on the National Mall. The museum at Ground Zero is incredibly well done.
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u/Schonke 1h ago
I highly recommend visiting a resistance museum in European cities if you ever have the opportunity.
Recently went to the Amsterdam one and it was inspiring, heart wrenching and depressing at the same time. They tell the story of resistance against and collaboration with the Nazi occupation through stories about individuals and their fate.
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u/cogginsmatt 5h ago
The way a lot of tourists behave around the memorial, I think 90% of the people standing in front of it don’t know what it is
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u/trixie_918 3h ago
We visited about 10 yrs ago and we saw a younger woman (likely had no real memory of the day) SITTING ON THE NAMES of one of the memorials, smiling and modeling, while her boyfriend took pictures and gave obnoxious instructions during their little photo shoot.
I was so angry. I still regret not saying something.
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u/koalasarentferfuckin 4h ago
This really threw me off and I still don’t know whether to blame the space or the people. The vibe at the OKC bombing memorial is so quiet and solemn and this was a tourist attraction. If a lot of people really don’t know what it is, it would make me feel better about the NYC memorial but worse about humans because good god, what else could it be?
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u/cogginsmatt 3h ago
I don't think it helps that part of the site is the Oculus, a big ol mall
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u/skankenstein 1h ago
That mall is so ugly and cold. I hated even walking around in it and had no interest in lingering. We walked in and walked right back out.
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u/MsKongeyDonk 4h ago
Yeah, a lot of smiling selfies.
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u/Foxs-In-A-Trenchcoat 4h ago
Not when I went about 10 years ago. A lot of people crying. I didn't expect to cry but I did.
It was when I saw all the names engraved in the stone and one of them said and unborn child. Pregnant women were killed. I lost it
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u/UGDirtFarmer 4h ago
“And her unborn child” always hits the feels for me when I visit.
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u/Foxs-In-A-Trenchcoat 4h ago
They were probably picking out onesies and a bassinet. And then. Just death. 😢
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u/beignetlmao 3h ago
I went in 2014 and it was honestly really distressing and disturbing seeing how many people were taking smiling pictures of themselves with selfie sticks. Like, I was trying not to cry about how upsetting that was.
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u/pfeff 4h ago
People were taking selfies with bodies recovered in Pompeii when I was visiting.
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u/Jewmangi 1h ago
Tbf it's a body casting. Much like a fossil.
Not that I would but it's a rock that looks like a person.
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u/AmIFromA 4h ago
Same happens at the Holocaust memorial in Berlin.
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u/Typical-Blackberry-3 4h ago
While those aren't great I can understand wanting to take pictures on interesting pieces of architecture. I visited the memorial in Berlin and it is gorgeous, I personally wouldn't take a picture there though as I understand the magnitude of what it represents.
Now the people who take selfies on the tracks in front of Auschwitz, that's another story. I can't understand that.
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u/BeLikeAGoldfishh 4h ago
I think taking pictures is just fine at solemn places. They’re historical and they’re there for educational purposes and for remembrance.
Taking smiling group selfies is so weird and off putting though. Have some respect.
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u/hawkinsst7 3h ago
I think there's some people who are just completely conditioned that photos must be taken a certain way.
Many have had the parent where the only photos they took were of the family, everyone lined up, posed, and smiling like it's a glamour shoot.
Candids showing people naturally? Perish the thought! Images of landmarks and landscapes? I'm not wasting my film on that!
Couple that with "were on an expensive vacation, and by golly we're going to look hap-hap-happy for these photos!"
I suspect for kids of these people, there's almost a reflex to smile, or to just avoid being in pictures altogether.
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u/KaiCypret 3h ago edited 2h ago
I was quite outraged when I visited the Holocaust memorial and saw groups of people playing hide-and-seek between the Pillars, and some even sitting on top of the shorter ones and having a picnic.
Later I read that the artist and the museum wanted to create an interactive space for people to use as they please. So I suppose it is fulfilling the intended function and my moral outrage was my own problem.
But it is so incongruous to see people vainly taking Instagram selfies and laughing and paying around a memorial to human misery. I just can't reconcile those things in my mind.
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u/PinkyJ 2h ago
When I visited the Jewish Holocaust Memorial the guide was very explicit that the architect said it was meant to be "taken in" however people saw fit, and that whatever it brought to them was indeed his intention.
I felt the same as you though - it was solemn, overwhelming, and breathtaking (in a dark way).
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u/tells_eternity 2h ago
I saw people taking a group photo under the gate at Auschwitz when I visited. I took a few photos on the trip but I explicitly tried to take photos with no people in them.
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u/SagittaryX 3h ago
I love my mom, but when we visited Japan together and went to Hiroshima she wanted to take pictures in front of dome structure and I had to say absolutely not.
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u/cire1184 8h ago
It's OK. I'm American and didn't know. Never been to NYC. I'm from California. It's far!
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u/indokiddo 7h ago
You should totally visit! Californian here as well. When you do, you’ll see how spoiled they are with their public transit. While we wait for the late bus again they’re across town in 10 min
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u/cire1184 7h ago
It's far and expensive. I'm limited on funds. My only income right now is disability because I am on dialysis.
If you or anyone you know might be interested in donating a kidney please check out my story.
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u/TittysForScience 5h ago
Wish I could help but I’m in Australia. I also don’t think you want my kidney specifically
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u/intentionallybad 5h ago
I didn't know until I visited. It's really well done. The effect is marred from the air because from the ground you can't see the bottom of the center, so the water continuously pours from the sides down into the center. The outside part you walk up to to look has all the names of the victims engraved.
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u/beignetlmao 3h ago
This, it’s such an eerie thing to see in person, not being able to see where the water goes. Like how the depth of the tragedy can’t be fully represented.
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u/Redylittle 7h ago
The original footprint of the buildings are the first row of trees next the ring where the names are written
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u/Available_Finger_513 3h ago
Skyscrapers have an unusually small base for how big they are anyway. That is, until you see what is going on underground
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u/The_Saiyann 8h ago
I never realised this! They seem huge standing around the edge but from this perspective, it makes sense!
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u/Holiday-Pride-4165 4h ago
They did this on purpose. The first line of trees surrounding the building are the actual building and perimeters. So when you stand next to the fountains, you’re actually standing inside one of the towers.
Source: I live here and have done the tour many, many times.
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u/DaBabeBo 1h ago
Do the grass spaces represent anything? Thanks for sharing your knowledge!
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u/vftgurl123 34m ago
that section of the memorial is called the glade. the path represents the ramp that first responders and recovery workers used to clear the rubble and search for survivors or remains.
throughout the paths at the end of each corner there are slabs or rock that are encased with steel from the towers so that anyone visiting can also walk the same path responders took.
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u/_WreakingHavok_ 8h ago
Why did they make them smaller?
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u/SpaceIsAce 7h ago edited 6h ago
The first row of trees around them mark the actual size, so you have to go ‘into’ the footprint of the towers to visit the pools.
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u/mybeardsweird 6h ago
??? how does that work the trees are everywhere
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u/Firewolf06 2h ago
it makes more sense on the ground, here's a good angle: https://www.reddit.com/r/nyc/s/J0EwIty639
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u/SpaceIsAce 6h ago
The first row, edited my comment
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u/hellcat_uk 4h ago
First row from the pools? So the pools are about 10ft smaller than the tower's in each direction?
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u/digita1catt 4h ago
I know one of the design features was that from the edge, you aren't supposed to see the bottom of the final pool of water. The water just disappears over the edge. I could imagine prehaps to get that effect, was easier with a smaller footprint? Maybe? Idk
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u/memelord_andromeda 4h ago
walking up to the fountains is the same as entering the lobbies of both towers. it actually kind of hits you once you notice how massive they were.
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u/catbandana 4h ago
Man, thanks for posting that. I’ve visited this site a handful of times and I’ve always thought “wow, they were a lot narrower than I would have imagined.”
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u/Professional-Ad-1491 6h ago
True. I heard somewhere the outer rings of trees are roughly the same size and they mimic the entrance that had the large, open lobbies.
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u/-I_I 6h ago
But why are the trees all brown?
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u/stackens 6h ago
I love this design for the memorial. Two black pits where the towers were, water pouring in but never filling the void. It says exactly what a memorial to 9/11 should say, that nothing will replace what was lost.
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u/Reversus 1h ago
Of all things I was taken aback by the trees. My first impression was they were randomly planted like a forest, but from the west/east view you realise they are planted in parallel lines. Reminds me of a perspective painting that suddenly catches you're attention at the right angle.
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u/Navydevildoc 1h ago
If I remember right, the greenery is meant to symbolize the debris that flew off the building, if you look at it from above you can see it.
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u/LookAtMyKitty 1h ago
Incredibly moving memorial. I stop by about once a year to read some names. I think of the futures and families that miss them while watching and hearing the endless rush of the water falling into the void. Walk back to work at a busy New York pace with a sad weight on my soul but better appreciation for my time in this world.
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u/legallyfm 8h ago
I went there 10 years ago. It was my first time visiting NYC. My friend who was showing me around and let roam for a little bit. I just stood and looked around one of the reflecting fountain memorials trying to read every single name etched on there. It was very surreal especially walking around and remember telling my friend, "I saw this part the street on TV." It was a quiet Friday afternoon but such a beautiful but I felt the energy being so heavy.
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u/ckalinec 7h ago
Man I got super emotional reading the names the first time I saw it. It was very unexpected. And what really messed me up was family members who had come and placed flowers inside someone’s name. (For those who haven’t been the names are etched a good 4-6 inches or so deep so it’s deep enough to hold a flower in the etching of the names)
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u/Inspiredlikearabbit 7h ago
If it was a white rose it was that person’s birthday
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u/beignetlmao 3h ago
One of the most touching things about visiting the memorial to me was finding out about this, and how there’s someone who’s job it is to go put the birthday flowers out every day
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u/OSUBrit 7h ago
I’ve not been to the 9/11 memorial, but I had a similar experience at the OKC bombing one. It’s an incredible memorial and museum but very emotional. They have these big metal chairs to represent the victims and then a set of smaller ones for the kids killed - absolutely brutal.
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u/SmokeyCatDesigns 56m ago
Even though I’m American, I’ve yet to go to NYC. But I got a chance to take some classes in Krakow, Poland for a relatively cheap price one year and my paternal side is Polish, so I decided to do a summer study abroad there.
They had classes canceled for an optional trip to Auschwitz one of the days of the study abroad. I’ve always been pretty interested in history and had read enough about the sites to know what to expect, but it still really hit me emotionally when I actually went there.
I feel like 9/11 coverage I see each year around this time is more impactful ever since. I think seeing the remnants of a large scale, horrific tragedy up close recontextualizes these things in the brain.
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u/dragnabbit 6h ago
Right at the bottom of that photo, I used to stand outside the South Tower and take smoke breaks when I worked there for a couple of months. The building was “ribbed” from bottom to top, with the windows recessed between the columns, about 3 feet wide and 2 feet deep. You could stand in these recesses and look up this 1200-foot-tall metal-and-glass three-sided alcove. It was immensely cool.
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u/wkd101 9h ago
I’ve been there. It’s pretty overwhelming.
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u/Dave-the-Flamingo 8h ago
I went with little expectations.
But there was something about it being so much quieter than the normal noise and hustle of New York and then row upon row of names that just really hit me.
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u/Lebagel 8h ago
I'm from the UK and I've been to NYC twice. Once in late August 2001 where I went up one of the towers and refused to have my photo taken with my family coz I was annoyed about something.
I had no idea the WTC even existed until I went to it. Then a couple of weeks later I am hearing all this news about it.
Then again about 6 years ago. Was pretty crazy coming back to this site again.
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u/mxforest 8h ago
Overwhelming due to history associated with it or just in general? A kid who has no Idea about 9/11 will also find it interesting?
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u/CommentsOnOccasion 8h ago
The memorial seen in the image is a cool experience for anyone, and a kid would probably appreciate the context / visualization of massive buildings standing there before maybe. It's a cool fountain design and it's quite large as you can tell. A nice park to walk around for 15-20 minutes.
The museum itself (underground beneath the fountains, accessed by the white building on the right) is a far more solemn experience. It has an awesome design and a lot of cool stuff, but it's a museum of tragic destruction. Not exactly a place appropriate for young kids. Older kids who can be exposed to footage would appreciate it more.
If you do go, attend the documentary film they show every 15 or 30 minutes about the two brothers who were shooting an indie documentary about firemen and ended up filming from actual Ground Zero due to sheer "luck". That famous lone-existing clip of the first plane hitting the first tower, viewed from the street with a fireman in the foreground, is from their footage. The documentary is excellent.
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u/Fantastic-Dinner-919 8h ago edited 8h ago
Overwhelming for anyone who remembers 2001 across the globe have watched in horror. I myself was 12 years old in India, watched it on the news bulletin which ran the video and the morning newspapers next day had the pictures.
Went to New york as a visitor earlier this year, this memorial was the first place i visited.
Still it should be overwhelming to go the museum for someone who doesnt have memory associated, because I remember being dumbfounded at the Hiroshima bombing site.•
u/oohhh 4h ago
The Hiroshima A bomb museum and site was quite an experience. I visited it when I was 17 years old. I experienced a lot of emotion there and is the first time I recall feeling a sense of shame to be American. That experience triggered a change in me and my beliefs on what it means to be human.
It still sits with me now almost 25 years later.
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u/mxforest 8h ago
Surprisingly I was also 12 and in India when this happened.
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u/Fantastic-Dinner-919 8h ago
Oh these were etched in my mind, next was the news headline, War Begins, when they invaded Afghanistan. No photos, a central heading with writing. Bleak. I remember running with newspaper to my dad because he was telling me just the previous night that this could be WW3. And ofcourse its the first war that i could comprehend.
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u/Sl1ppy13 7h ago
I was young when 9/11 occurred but it’s interesting that it has such a far reach. It was a truly horrible thing. It had the scale of a natural disaster but it was unnatural. A truly unique and incomprehensible event that still affects people’s opinions on that war, religion & foreign policy.
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u/FiveThreeTwo 7h ago
Imo all kids should make a trip if they can or are in the area through school trips or parent road trips.
Im not American- but in do believe the entire paradigm of how the west lives and operates from government to culture- changed when those buildings came down on the TV, with columbine unfortunately another force in that. It was before a period of liveleaks and the gore u can see on Instagram everyday that desensitizes us routinely. It was the first time many ppl saw with their own eyes not just unfathomable things only past family members and countrymen saw in war in terms of the surreal - but completely adjusted the paradigm of what was perceived as possible in terms of Homeland attacks.
Imo no columbine and no 9/11, the west goes on a fundamentally different path in all areas- maybe its not seen as such yet in classrooms but in terms of modern history but it should be, ans kids visit or learn about it as much as learned about D day, the somme, or the atom bombs as kids
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u/wkd101 8h ago
Overwhelming due to the history. Even for me as a tourist just visiting the US.
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u/rubberSteffles 2h ago
like many of the other answers, part of it is the history and the enormity of the museum, it seemed endless when i was there.
but the other part was how heavy it felt there. spiritually is subjective - but for me, the death that was there was undeniably present and after an hour in there i felt like i couldn’t breathe anymore. that’s only ever happened to me in the New Orleans French Quarter.
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u/unkleden 8h ago
I’d say the history. A kid will find it cool / interesting / worrying depending on their age and how much of the “real world” they’ve been exposed to. If they’re at an age or around an age where it can be both interesting and a learning experience when they are told the history of the site then I’d say it’s a very worthwhile place to visit. The scale of it physically is impressive (meaning that it will leave an impression perhaps more than reading / hearing just that bad stuff happens - it makes it more real / tangible).
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u/Pandos17 7h ago
I went there only a few years after 9/11 before the fountain features were installed. There’s history of course, but there’s a certain weight of knowing several thousands of people lost their lives here recently.
Of course there are other places where people have lost lots of lives in history, but not many are this concentrated into a single location and that recent/front of mind.
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u/Professional-Kiwi176 4h ago
I didn’t visit the Museum cause I was worried it would be significantly confronting, but I did go to the Memorial with the reflecting pools and it was moving being there reading all the names and hearing the water while looking up in the sky where the towers once stood.
Always an incredibly heavy occasion with the anniversaries as for a lot it still feels so raw like it was yesterday.
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u/Dan1elSan 7h ago
I can’t stand the fact there’s gift shops.
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u/crazylegsbobo 7h ago
I didn't know there with gift shops, but then immediately thought, "it's America, OF COURSE there are gift shops"
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u/Mr_Abe_Froman 4h ago
There's a souvenir shop at Auschwitz. I remember wanting a photography book to remember, but the experience of going is so fresh that I can't look at the book 15 years later. At least my money went to a good cause.
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u/crazylegsbobo 1h ago
You are kidding? that is in such poor taste! What's on sale striped shirts with a yellow star that say "I went to Auschwitz and all I got was this lousy t-shirt"???
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u/Dan1elSan 7h ago
There’s a big shop inside and little official stalls outside. The thing that got me most was they actually sell flags flown on the ground zero flag pole.
If you zoom in you can see them. It felt so insensitive seeing a knock off downtown manhattan lego set, plastic fire trucks etc.
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u/crazylegsbobo 7h ago
Id be okay with it if the money were going to the family's effected or something I guess?
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u/Dan1elSan 6h ago
I mean it’s a non profit, with an executive on 850k. So yeah it’s not for the families at all.
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u/kaullins 8h ago
Yeah it is.
I am americam born, decent of immigrants withing the millenia. Patriot with a healthy distain for the current state of things. I like to think.
Was only 6 when this happened, in Wyoming, still shut down that small part of the country.
Standing on that ground was surreal, 8 years ago when there were fewer trees. I think the trees would soften the impact.
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u/Mika-El-3 8h ago
I’ve been here at night once and I was literally the only person around. It was deep.
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u/Ill_Football9443 7h ago
There's a good video about the crew who cleans and maintains these
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u/gxpls3 8h ago
25 years later and still rips me apart.
I was a senior in high school and its a core memory I remember so vividly almost hour by hour.
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u/pocket_mulch 5h ago
I was in bed listening to music as a teenager in Australia. My friend messaged me "holy fuck a plane just crashed into the world trade centre!"
I remember thinking "I wonder what the world trade centre is".
Didn't think much else of it at the time, but I learned a lot the next day!
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u/LeftHandedFapper 3h ago
"holy fuck a plane just crashed into the world trade centre!"
When I first heard the news over my school's PA system, I assumed it was a Cessna or small aircraft - I was familiar with the accidental plane hit to the Empire State Building by a military aircraft in 1945. I was stunned when everyone put on the TVs and saw the reality of it
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u/whogivesashirtdotca 1h ago
Everyone was talking about it being a Cessna. The size of the gash and the plume of smoke made it obvious it wasn’t. I missed the second plane because I’d turned my back to the tv to ask my dad if he thought it was a jetliner, too. When he got his tv on, he said, “They’re both on fire?” I remember my stomach dropping.
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u/NewAccountEachYear 4h ago
I have a similar anecdote from here in Sweden. When Breivik detonated his bomb in central Oslo I mentioned it to my brother as something unusual, he replied with typical teenage "who cares?"
As the day went on and the Utøya massacre unfolded that comment really came to stick with me.
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u/chesterbarry 3h ago
Class of 02. 2nd period they come over the intercom and said that something was going on and encouraged all of us to turn on our tvs. Both towers had been hit. I remember a friend saying jenga when a tower fell. And not having football practice that afternoon. Long distance phone lines were bogged down.
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u/Thefdt 7h ago
When we visited New York I didn’t really have any intention of going to the museum or anything, I thought it kind of an odd thing to have a museum of. But one of the days it was torrential rain, and we were staying basically five minutes from it so we decided to visit. It was such a sobering experience but I was honestly blown away by how well done it was, and unlike a lot the ‘American yeah’ bravado that you get in the states, it just captured the senseless loss of completely ordinary innocent and good people of that day.
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u/Altruistic_Body_9363 5h ago
100%. I’ve been to it twice and it’s surreal. Such a loud and boisterous city and at the site it’s just so quiet.
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u/theflowersyoufind 6h ago
Went to New York on holiday. As a Brit, I loved experiencing the bravado you mention because it was so foreign to me. It made the museum experience so much more impactful too because like you say, it is perfectly done. Tasteful and simple. The entire space feels so charged. Spending the afternoon walking slowly around really was one of the most unique and emotional experiences I’ve ever had.
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u/twitchy_pixel 7h ago
Yeah same… this memorial is done extremely tastefully, which isn’t usually what id associate with America.
I left the museum in tears and will never go back but it’s 100% essential viewing for anyone visiting NYC.
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u/Brisby820 4h ago
How many tasteless memorials for tragedies have you been to in America?
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u/twitchy_pixel 3h ago
Pearl Harbour is pretty on the nose, yeah.
The WTC one in comparison is a masterclass in being a sombre memorial to what happened.
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u/evilJaze 3h ago
Haven't actually been to it, but the Charlie Kirk memorial pageant with fireworks and his widow coming out in a jubilant sparkly outfit comes to mind.
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u/TheDadThatGrills 2h ago
Stop comparing 9/11 to Charlie Kirk when discussing our national tragedies, and that will never be an issue.
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u/Healthy-Training-923 5h ago
This and the Museum of African American History and Culture in Washington are maybe the best examples of modern museums anywhere in the world.
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u/iamabigtree 4h ago
I visited in 2002 when they were still very busy with the aftermath.
I saw a video at that park this morning and I was struck by the trees. Mature trees really underline how much time has passed n
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u/flavorburst 3h ago
The trees they planted at the memorial were mature when they went in the ground. I worked downtown when they came in, they were trucked in on flatbeds and were about 30 feet tall already and only two would fit on a trailer, it was wild to see such large trees being planted.
It is kind of a shame that they opted to use all the same species of tree, as I think it would have been a great opportunity to feature a variety of trees and would have served to protect the park against any illness the trees may contract. These are all white oak trees and if some disease or pest catches hold it's likely it would affect all the trees whereas using a more diverse set of species would likely not have the same result.
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u/operationALTA 2h ago
It's been 25 years and I still can barely stand to walk through the memorial. I don't know if many folks outside of the NYC metro area can truly appreciate what it was like to live through that event. So many towns lost husbands, wives, etc. Cars sitting at the train stations, kids in school lost a parent of family member, on top of all the trauma of the event and the ensuing wars that killed thousands. It is wild to see young kids today learning about it for the first time, and how its memed on the internet now. God what a terrible time.
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u/whogivesashirtdotca 1h ago
I have a friend who worked next to the towers and had a good friend who perished in the attacks. He made his first trip to the museum the other day. So much unprocessed trauma out there, including in people who were just watching on TV. We watched thousands of people die in real time.
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u/Qarakhanid 55m ago
I do think people outside of the NYC metro will never truly understand the seriousness of these attacks.
My parents lost childhood friends, college roommates, people who attended their wedding. Yesterday my Mom described the horror of running through Manhattan during the attack (my older sister was 11 months), I have never seen her so traumatized. I never considered that she might have PTSD until I saw her teleported back those 25 years ago, eyes looking to the past and still uncomprehending the innocent lives snuffed out, she was paralyzed by terror.
As I watched the broadcast yesterday, seeing not only last names that are familiar, but towns which are just minutes away, or your own for that matter, it's a harrowing feeling. My uncle lost his best friend, they had known each other since they were four. My Mom still cannot bring herself to delete the emails she sent him when the plane hit, begging that he was alright and had escaped.
As a post 9/11 adult, while we may not have experienced the events, they will forever be a looming specter for those who call NYC home, it truly never will be forgotten.
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u/Jackson530 7h ago
I’ve been there when the towers were there. In 96 on a field trip. So surreal to see it like this
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u/Just-Examination-136 3h ago
I've been to the WTC and what I remember most was just how vast the entire area was. It took several minutes to walk from one building to the other -- the entire scale of the buildings, from the lobbies, elevator banks, the throngs of people -- was overwhelming-- and then to see the buildings come down, was beyond my comprehension. It just didn't seem possible.
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u/TheCrudMan 8h ago
It's a pretty phenomenal memorial, I have been many times. The museum is fantastic as well though quite emotionally draining.
One of my favorite details here is how the trees are planted in rows on one axis but with a random appearance on the other. So if you come from one angle it looks artificial and from another it looks natural.
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u/Falkenmond79 7h ago
I always wonder: what happened to all the underground parts of the buildings? The parking garage, store and tech rooms, etc? Was that filled in or dug out and replaced?
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u/MikeyMike01 4h ago
The museum is in the basement, there’s an exposed section of the foundation slurry wall you can see
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u/Galemp 4h ago
I went through the WTC PATH station a lot in the early 2000s.
After clearing the site, they kept excavating. There was an enormous concrete "bathtub" of retaining walls originally constructed as part of the tower foundations. They emptied it all out, what felt like 100 feet deep, for an entire block. The train would come out of the tunnel into this... void in the middle of Manhattan. A huge, silent, barren hole, where buildings used to fill the sky. It was a nauseating feeling.
I haven't been back since they built the memorial. I think they tried to recapture that void with the waterfalls, but I don't see how they could.
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u/JD7693 3h ago
Wow. You are the first person who I have heard describe the most seared in my brain memory of NYC post 9-11. I grew up a few hours outside NYC and had lots of family in the city so visited often. The memory I most vividly remember post 9-11 is riding the train with my cousin and coming out into “the pit”. The first time I experienced it, it made me very emotional. I was back at the memorial in June of this year. Still brings up a lot of feelings about the fear I felt as a teenager and whether or not the family I had in the city was ok when we first heard about the attacks.
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u/torino_nera 1h ago
Yes, exactly this. When they first re-opened the WTC PATH stop after the attacks, I remember it being completely black. "Void" is a perfect way of describing it. It was the most eerie thing I've ever experienced, and I've never felt so small in my entire life.
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u/whogivesashirtdotca 1h ago
Everything was dug out. A lot of the stores were intact, surprisingly. And wildly, they dug so deep they actually uncovered a boat from the Revolutionary War!
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u/Falkenmond79 1h ago
That is amazing. I love seeing stuff like that. Real treasure, lost for centuries.
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u/OutInTheBlack 2h ago
They excavated straight down to the bottom of the concrete bathtub and cleared out all the debris before beginning construction on the new complex
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u/APiousCultist 5h ago
Those giant pits are giving me real call of the void vibes. Like those big storm drains on reservoirs.
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u/Brisby820 3h ago
I think that’s the intent. It really feels like that when you’re standing there
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u/APiousCultist 3h ago
I'm not sure a 9/11 memorial is quite served by the back-of-the-mind impulse to hurl yourself to your death. But maybe you're right.
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u/LastResortSlayer 3h ago
Visited the site in 2017. It's amazing how in the most busy, nosiest city in the world, this area is quiet as can be. Almost like a barrier around the area.
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u/Ellite25 1h ago
The museum is incredible. They did such a good job with it. But man, it can be an emotional gut punch.
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u/Method__Man 9h ago
i heard donald built these with his bare hands, or some other BS
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u/steffoon 8h ago
In one afternoon, just by himself. Great guy, really great. Making America great again or some other BS
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u/founderofshoneys 8h ago
There was a third plane and he tanked it with his body and said "you're welcome, New York"
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u/ThaScoopALoop 8h ago
After the towers fell, he called a 15 year old pageant contestant in one of his CP pageants and bragged about how his peepee is now taller than the world trade centers, despite the fact that the pile of rubble was many millions of times taller than his peepee. She wasn't impressed, but her weird TradWife mom was. This just happened on Thursday, September 10th, 2026.
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u/le_gasdaddy 8h ago
Wow. 43, a senior in HS that year. Went for the first time this May. Looks so different since NYC is actual seasons versus central Tx.
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u/Winter_37 2h ago
The drone show this year was amazing and really got me choked up. For a moment, Lady Liberty got to see her lost children. The skyline was whole once more.
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u/FellowDeviant 1h ago
My very first time in New York was Christmas of 2007. The Toys 'R' Us in Times Square was the coolest thing for a kid, people were lining up out the door to walk into the underground Apple building, but underneath the site of the WTC was like a time capsule from 2001. I was on a train with my aunts and uncles as it came to a crawl of a quiet, dimly lit station with no people, movie posters from 2001 still up on cracked walls. And piles of rubble pushed to the side to allow the subways to pass by. New Yorkers were reliving that memory of the horror almost every day for years. As a kid I thought it was a surreal experience, but even now it amazes me that was a regular thing for people's daily lives for over 10 years. The whole site was eventually cleaned up and modernized and is now the site of the WTC station that people use today to get up and see this exact spot.
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u/Jibboolie 9h ago
Wait, what? Did they not rebuild on the same space?? Or was this taken prior to rebuilding?
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u/mizushimo 9h ago
The two memorials for the twin towers are two sunken waterfalls where the foundations used to be, bordered by the names of the fallen
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u/FedeFofo 9h ago
And the names of the fallen are grouped by friends/families/colleagues, so it gives every person more individuality and allows you to grieve with others who knew people in that group.
https://www.911memorial.org/connect/blog/meaning-behind-arrangement-911-memorial-names
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u/one_pound_of_flesh 8h ago
It’s the greatest memorial I’ve ever seen.
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u/jus1m3 8h ago
I find it to be fascinating to build such a memorial but not giving all victims free health care. Shit for brains if you ask me.
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u/turnaroundbro 5h ago
Agreed. The whole area is beautiful. So tasteful and well done, but obviously somber. And the station is incredible as well
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u/Jibboolie 9h ago
Thank you! I knew there was a memorial, but I didn’t know it was like this. It’s absolutely beautiful.
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u/I_Like_Water11 9h ago
They also have these light features that create these beautiful light columns representing the towers in the skyline. Ive been to many memorials around the world but, in my opinion,this one is easily the best. You really feel the weight of it all. If you ever visit NYC you have to go.
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u/vertle 9h ago
I also recommend the museum - I’ve only been to NYC once but the museum was easily the highlight for me as I learned so many things. Not all of them nice obviously, but as someone who is not from the US and who was a child when it happened, the museum did a great job at explaining the events of the day and highlighting the amazing people who helped with responding to the situation
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u/Jibboolie 9h ago
I saw that a bunch and it looks so stunning. I don’t know where I thought it was projecting from though.
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u/Serious-Bat-4880 9h ago
The base of the new tower is visible in the top of the image, just left of center.
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u/Fantastic-Dinner-919 9h ago
The Freedom tower or One World Trade Centre Tower [silver facade in the top centre left] was built adjacent to this site, where smaller world trade centre buildings stood [tower 6 to be exact]
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u/koolaidman89 9h ago
I’d prefer the two towers had been rebuilt on the same footprint but bigger and prettier. But apparently a lot of the victims family groups didn’t want soulless square towers built over their loved one’s graves so I’m glad it was done like this.
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u/Jibboolie 8h ago
Yeah, no.. it does seem icky to rebuild on that site. They’ve reclaimed that space for healing.
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u/The_Saiyann 8h ago
I’ve always been so fascinated with 911 and heard mixed things about the memorial underground. It’s so worth it! I cannot recommend enough
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u/Fantastic-Dinner-919 8h ago
Yes! and its very cheap too. I think there are free entry days as well.
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u/spuckthew 4h ago
I was there in 2015 and went into the museum too. It was a very somber experience.
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u/Zwangsjacke 8h ago
Surprised he hasn't renamed it to the National Donald J. Trump & September 11 Memorial & Museum yesterday.
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u/Shadow_Integration 2h ago
Completely off topic, but I've got a similar waterfall pit setup for my iron golem farm in Minecraft. Go figure.
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u/gangbangkang 8h ago
I visited NYC for the first time in December 2000, I was 10 years old. We were staying in Manhattan at my uncle’s place, and every day we would walk to the same cafe for lunch. On one of those days, a group of firemen came into the cafe to get food and noticed us with our mom. They asked if we wanted to take pictures on the fire truck, so we went outside and they put us on the truck and let us check out their equipment while taking pictures. 9/11 happened 9 months later, and I always think about those firemen and if they survived that day. I haven’t seen the pictures in a long time, but I vaguely remember the truck being Ladder 12.