National September 11 Memorial & Museum in New York, USA

The National September 11 Memorial & Museum occupies the World Trade Center site in Lower Manhattan, where it preserves physical evidence, personal testimony, historical records, and memorial spaces connected with the September 11, 2001 attacks and the February 26, 1993 World Trade Center bombing. The outdoor Memorial and the indoor Museum form one institution but operate as different visitor experiences: the Memorial is free to enter, while the Museum requires a ticket.

The Memorial and the Museum

The outdoor 9/11 Memorial opened to the public on September 12, 2011. Its design, Reflecting Absence, was created by architect Michael Arad and landscape architect Peter Walker after an international design competition. Two large reflecting pools occupy the footprints of the former North and South Towers.

Bronze parapets around the pools carry the names of 2,983 people: the 2,977 people killed in the September 11 attacks and the six people killed in the 1993 World Trade Center bombing. The names are arranged by location, affiliation, and what the Memorial calls meaningful adjacencies, allowing colleagues, relatives, flight crews, first responders, and other connected individuals to be placed near one another.

The Museum is largely below ground. Visitors descend into spaces containing archaeological remnants of the original World Trade Center as well as artifacts recovered from the site. Its exhibition areas cover about 110,000 square feet and extend roughly 70 feet below ground level.

What the Museum Covers

The Museum documents both the events themselves and the experiences of people affected by them. Its presentations combine objects, photographs, recorded testimony, archival audio and video, interactive media, and parts of the World Trade Center site that remain in place.

September 11, 2001 Historical Exhibition

The main historical exhibition is located within the footprint of the former North Tower. It is divided into three broad parts: the Events of the Day, Before 9/11, and After 9/11.

The first part follows the attacks as they unfolded in New York, at the Pentagon, and aboard the four hijacked aircraft. The material includes first-person accounts and original records as well as objects associated with victims, survivors, responders, and witnesses. The sections covering the period before and after September 11 provide historical context and document the immediate response, recovery work, and later effects of the attacks.

In Memoriam

In Memoriam, the Museum’s memorial exhibition, occupies the footprint of the former South Tower. It focuses on the individual lives of those killed in the September 11 attacks and the 1993 World Trade Center bombing rather than treating the victims only as a number.

The exhibition uses photographs, personal records, recorded remembrances, and biographical material to document the people represented by the names at the Memorial outside. This area is distinct from the historical exhibition, which concentrates more directly on the chronology and circumstances of the attacks.

Artifacts and Parts of the Original World Trade Center

Several of the Museum’s largest objects are inseparable from the World Trade Center site itself. Foundation Hall, the Museum’s largest interior space, contains a preserved section of the original slurry wall. The concrete retaining structure was built during construction of the World Trade Center to keep water from the nearby Hudson River out of the excavated site.

The Last Column stands in the same hall. This 36-foot steel column was the final piece of World Trade Center steel removed from Ground Zero at the end of the recovery period in May 2002. Recovery workers, responders, relatives, and others covered it with inscriptions, photographs, messages, and mementos before its removal.

Other physical remnants help visitors understand the scale and layout of the former complex. These include exposed structural foundations and the Survivors’ Stairs, a surviving portion of a staircase used by hundreds of people escaping the World Trade Center area on September 11.

The Permanent Collection

The 9/11 Memorial Museum has acquired more than 83,000 artifacts. Its holdings document victims, survivors, first responders, recovery workers, witnesses, families, and the broader response to both the 1993 bombing and the 2001 attacks.

The collection ranges from large structural objects and emergency-service equipment to clothing, identification cards, recovered personal property, photographs, correspondence, artworks, memorial objects, and other material evidence. The institution also maintains an oral-history archive containing recorded interviews from many different perspectives.

A searchable portion of the holdings is available through the institution’s online collection catalog. The digital catalog does not represent every object held by the Museum, and additional material continues to be added as items are documented and digitized.

In Their Honor: 25 Years of 9/11-Inspired Service

The Museum opened In Their Honor: 25 Years of 9/11-Inspired Service to the public on September 12, 2026. The special exhibition examines how people and organizations responded to the attacks through public service, volunteer work, emergency response, advocacy, community programs, and other forms of assistance.

It brings together artifacts, firsthand accounts, and multimedia material related to people whose work or life direction was shaped by service after September 11. The Museum lists the exhibition as being on view through 2030, and admission to it is included with Museum admission.

Planning a Museum Visit

The Museum is currently open Wednesday through Monday from 9:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m., with last admission at 5:30 p.m. Select Tuesday and holiday openings are also scheduled. The outdoor Memorial is open daily from 8:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m.

A standard adult Museum ticket for visitors ages 18–64 is currently $36. Reduced rates apply to several other age and eligibility groups, while children age six and under receive free Museum admission. Timed admission should be reserved in advance. The outdoor Memorial does not require paid admission.

The Museum recommends allowing approximately 45 to 90 minutes for a self-guided visit, although the amount of time needed depends on how much of the historical material, personal testimony, and temporary exhibitions a visitor chooses to examine.

All Museum visitors and baggage are subject to security screening. Because the institution deals directly with death, injury, destruction, and eyewitness accounts, some exhibition material can be emotionally difficult. The Museum advises that the main historical exhibition may not be appropriate for children younger than 10 and asks accompanying adults to use their own discretion.

Accessibility

The Museum entrance, public exhibition areas, and Museum Store are wheelchair accessible. Elevators and escalators provide alternatives where stairs are present, and visitors may use wheelchairs, mobility scooters, walkers, canes, and other mobility aids in public areas.

Exhibition media with audio provide open captions or transcripts, and assistive-listening induction loops are installed in areas with audio programming. The Museum also offers accessible audio-guide options, including American Sign Language and audio description. Its broader audio-guide program includes multiple spoken languages.

Getting There

The National September 11 Memorial & Museum is at 180 Greenwich Street in Lower Manhattan, within the World Trade Center complex. Nearby subway access includes the E train to World Trade Center, the 1 train to WTC Cortlandt, the R train to Cortlandt Street, and several lines serving Fulton Street and Chambers Street. PATH service to the World Trade Center also places visitors close to the site.

The Museum entrance is in the pavilion between the two Memorial pools. Because the Memorial plaza and the Museum have separate hours and admission arrangements, visitors who plan to see both can enter the outdoor Memorial independently before or after their timed Museum visit.