9/11 Memorial Preview Site opens
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Mumbai, 27th August 2009, – The National September 11 Memorial & Museum opened a 9/11 Memorial Preview Site near the World Trade Center on 26 August 2009. The Preview Site provides the tourists and public with the opportunity to learn about the Memorial and Museum, view real-time images of the construction progress at the World Trade Center site, and participate in the creation of the Museum by sharing their 9/11 stories.
“The Preview Site will offer visitors a unique opportunity to learn about and participate in the creation of the Memorial and Museum at the World Trade Center,” 9/11 Memorial & Museum President Joe Daniels said. “Through models, renderings, films, and real-time images of construction, visitors can understand the plans and progress being made at the site. They will be able to take home with them a photograph of the construction as a personal record of their visit to the World Trade Center while history was being built. We are also inviting people to come to the Preview Site to share their 9/11 stories. These recordings will be included in an introductory exhibit once the Museum opens.”
“The opening of the new 9/11 Memorial Preview Site will provide visitors with an interactive way to connect to the historic events of September 11 while acquiring a better understanding of the plans for the forthcoming 9/11 Memorial and Museum,” said George Fertitta, CEO of NYC & Company.
In order to provide the public with information on the plans for the 9/11 Memorial and Museum, the Preview Site will display models and renderings of the project, illustrating what the World Trade Center site will look like when the rebuilding is complete, along with a 9/11 historic timeline. The Preview Site exhibition was designed by Thinc Design, the exhibition designers for the Museum.
The 9/11 Memorial Preview Site will work with the nearby Tribute WTC Visitor Center to promote visitor resources to the public. Through walking tours, exhibits and programs, the Tribute WTC Visitor Center offers “Person to Person History,” linking visitors who want to understand and appreciate these historic events with those who experienced them.
9/11 Preview Site Content
Filmmaker Jim Whitaker and his Project Rebirth team have crafted a four-minute film especially for visitors to the Preview Site. Drawing on footage from Project Rebirth’s 14 35mm film time lapse cameras sited around Ground Zero, and interviews of nine people directly affected by the 9/11 attacks, Project Rebirth’s Preview Site film chronicles wrenching personal stories combined with powerful time-lapse images. It highlights the journey of the New York community rebuilding through the years following the 9/11 attacks.
Visitors to the Preview Site will have the opportunity to be a part of history by sharing their 9/11 stories with Museum. An on-site recording booth will allow the public to contribute to the Museum’s planned introductory exhibition that will include a soundscape of people remembering, in multiple languages, where they were on September 11, 2001, and how they learned of the attacks. The Preview Site will help collect these remembrances through 3-minute recorded stories. The recording booth will also be used periodically to record 40-minute remembrances with the national oral history project, StoryCorps.
Highlights from the Museum’s collection and access to its collaborative partner, VOICES of September 11th (VOICES) and its 9/11 Living Memorial Project, will be available through kiosks at the Preview Site. The 9/11 Living Memorial digital archive honors the lives of each of the victims through photographs and written tributes provided by their family and friends. The digital content will be a core resource in the Museum that will provide personal information and tributes on the individuals killed in the terrorist attacks.
In addition, selected artifacts from the Museum’s growing permanent collection will be presented. Currently on display is a replica Statue of Liberty that was covered in the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks with tributes such as uniform patches, miniature American flags, money, mass cards, rosary beads, condolence notes, and souvenir postcards, among others. In 2006, the nearly eight foot tall statue was donated to the Museum’s permanent collection by the Fire Department of New York Engine 54, Ladder 4, Battalion 9 firehouse. Also on display is a 1988 Harley Davidson Sportster 883 that was transformed by the Cartier family into a tribute to James Cartier, an electrical worker at the World Trade Center, who was killed on September 11, 2001.
The Preview Site was made possible through a gift from the Starr International Foundation. Starr International Foundation Board Member Maurice R. (“Hank”) Greenberg said, “For the first time, visitors to Ground Zero will get an up-close look at what the National 9/11 Memorial will offer. We hope that this Preview Site will be a valuable resource for visitors from around the world.”
The Starr International Foundation, a charitable organization based in Switzerland, is dedicated to supporting a broad range of educational, environmental, artistic, cultural, medical, humanitarian and other charitable institutions in Switzerland and around the world. The Foundation is the sole common stockholder of Starr International Company, Inc. (“Starr International”).
Additional opportunities to support the creation of the Memorial and Museum will be available at the Preview Site through donations and the sale of 9/11 books, dvds, and Memorial merchandise, with all net proceeds dedicated to the development of the Memorial and Museum.
The 9/11 Memorial Preview Site and merchandise introduce a new visual identity for the National September 11 Memorial & Museum, created by Landor Associates, a strategic brand consulting and design firm. In order to build awareness and establish common public reference to the project, Landor created a visual identity that is at once simple and dynamic, emphasizing the numbers nine and 11 prominently to commemorate the events of that day.
The Preview Site is located at 20 Vesey Street, between Broadway and Church Streets in lower Manhattan and is open Monday through Wednesday and Friday through Saturday from 10am to 7pm; Thursday from 10am to 9pm; and Sunday from 10am to 6pm. For more information, visit www.national911memorial.org or call 212.267.2047.
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