National September 11 Memorial & Museum

The National September 11 Memorial & Museum sits at the World Trade Center site in Lower Manhattan and commemorates the victims of the September 11, 2001 and February 26, 1993 attacks. The memorial plaza and the museum opened in the years following the attacks, forming the principal civic remembrance at the site.

The site’s most prominent features are two square reflecting pools set within the footprints of the original Twin Towers, with the names of the nearly 3,000 victims inscribed on bronze panels around the pools. The below-grade museum contains historical and memorial exhibitions that display artifacts, oral histories, and audiovisual presentations covering the events of 2001 and their aftermath.

The museum documents the attacks through recovered artifacts, personal effects, photographs, and recorded testimony, and presents both a historical narrative and a space for individual remembrance. The memorial landscape includes the Survivor Tree and planted elm and swamp white oak groves that form the plaza.

The memorial and museum are located at the northwest corner of Lower Manhattan, at the former footprint of the World Trade Center towers, adjacent to the new office buildings and transportation hubs of the site in downtown New York City.

• Tickets & timing: Advance timed-entry tickets are required for the Museum and recommended for the Memorial to manage crowds; peak visitation is mid-day and on weekends.
• Commemoration: Annual commemoration ceremonies are held each year on September 11 at the Memorial, including a reading of victims' names at the reflecting pools.

What to See #

• Memorial pools: Two large square reflecting pools set within the footprints of the original World Trade Center towers, each lined with bronze parapets bearing the names of the nearly 3,000 victims of the 2001 and 1993 attacks.
• Museum galleries: Museum spaces located largely below ground level, including the Memorial Exhibition and the Historical Exhibition, presenting artifacts, multimedia, and personal histories from the events of 2001 and their aftermath.
• Survivor Tree: A pear tree known as the "Survivor Tree," a Callery pear that was recovered from the World Trade Center site, tended on site and incorporated into the memorial landscape.