US President Barack Obama has led a dedication ceremony in New York for the new 9/11 Memorial Museum.
The museum is almost ready after many years of controversy, with some victims’ families worried about how remember the nearly 3000 people who were killed.
Nick Harper reports from New York.
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It’s more than 13 years since the Twin Towers fell. But time has not fully taken away the sense of loss.
In an emotional ceremony the families of some of the almost 3000 who died gathered at the site where their loved ones perished.
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This was the dedication of the 9/11 Memorial Museum - a museum that has faced setbacks and delays, and divided opinions.
Standing beneath the 60-foot high foundation wall of the World Trade Center, President Obama paid tribute to those who died.
Obama - clip 1
The President and first Lady toured the museum, taking in the artifacts and exhibits. He called it a "profound and moving
experience”, describing the memorial museum as a “sacred place of healing and hope”.
Obama - clip 2
But getting to this point has been a difficult process. Some felt the project was doomed from the start.
In the intervening years there’s been controversy and court cases, and a mixture of emotions over the decision to build again on the site where the towers once stood.
Paula Berry’s husband David died on September 11th. She feels it was right to open the museum, no matter how hard it may be to visit.
Berry - clip
But other families have felt differently. There have been worries about how to tastefully combine the two elements of a memorial with a tourist attraction.
Others have actively protested the fact thousands of un-identified remains are also housed within the museum - effectively meaning it doubles as a mortuary.
Former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, now the Memorial & Museum Chairman, said the majority of the families supported the museum.
Bloomberg - clip
The creators and curators hope the museum will be a place of healing. But it’s also a journey. Starting at street level it takes you down, under the surface, right down to the bedrock, to the literal ground zero of the site.
70 feet below ground, the enormity of the space hits you - 110,000 square foot housing everything from the striking large - like the twisted remains of the North Tower’s antenna - to the highly intimate - handwritten notes, discarded shoes left behind by fleeing victims. And faces everywhere - pictures and posters of the people who where inside the Twin Towers on the day they were attacked.
Here’s Museum director Alice Greenwald.
Greewald - clip
The museum opens to the public next Wednesday.
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