9/11 Memorial: What to See and How to Get Tickets

The 9/11 Museum sits in the rebuilt World Trade Center next to the 9/11 Memorial. Its mission is to remember the victims of the attack on the Twin Towers in New York.

Its great achievement was channeling so much emotional weight into a historical record. A record that overwhelms you with the rawness of every object on display.

What to See at the 9/11 Memorial Museum

It's a must-see visit if you want to understand how New York changed on that fateful September 11, 2001, but it is not an easy one.

You'll come face to face with the remains of the tragedy: melted steel beams, office supplies belonging to people who are no longer here, seat belts, doors and windows from the planes, passengers' suitcases, even toys that belonged to small children flying on the hijacked aircraft.

1. The descent into the 9/11 Museum

The entrance to the museum already tells you how serious what you're about to see is.

You'll descend 70 feet underground along a long ramp, where you'll hear farewell messages from victims to their families as you go, plus testimonies from survivors and rescue workers.

At the end of this ramp, a vast underground space of more than 100,000 square feet opens up, built beneath the fallen towers.

The exhibition is laid out across this dramatic void, which never lets you forget what once stood there, and you'll walk down beside the stairs hundreds of survivors used to escape.

Everything here means something. Everything here is there for a reason.

Downstairs you'll find more than 10,000 objects recovered from the rubble, along with documentary videos and photographs, missing person flyers, scorched phones, abandoned shoes.

2. The slurry wall

The edge of this great underground vault is the very slurry wall that separated the Twin Towers from the Hudson River.

The wall withstood the impact, the collapses and the explosions, so the decision was made to leave it intact, as witness and centerpiece of the 9/11 memorial museum.

3. The Last Column

The centerpiece is the «Last Column,» a sturdy 36-foot pillar that was the final piece removed from Ground Zero before reconstruction began.

On it you'll read initials and messages of comfort left behind by rescue workers.

4. The first fire truck on the scene

You can see what became of the first fire truck to reach the site of the tragedy, crushed by the collapses and explosions that followed.

5. Antenna fragment

Near the fire truck rests a fragment of the transmission antenna from the North Tower.

It's striking to see this 20-foot giant that once stood at the very top of New York now resting on the ground.

6. Steel beams from the North Tower

Another moving piece is the set of twisted steel beams mounted on a wall.

They came from the north facade of the North Tower, right at the point where the hijacked flight struck (between the 93rd and 99th floors).

7. The 9/11 timeline

Beyond the objects, the museum lays out the history and detailed timeline of the attack, with wrenching documentary material such as airport security footage that recorded the hijackers boarding the planes.

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Hours

Sunday to Thursday, 9 am to 8 pm (last entry at 6 pm)
Friday and Saturday, 9 am to 9 pm (last entry at 7 pm)

To help you plan your time, the average visit lasts 2 hours.

Price

Adults $26
65+ $20
Ages 7 to 12 $15
Ages 13 to 17 $20
College students $20
Under 7 free

Admission to the 9/11 Memorial Museum is included in the following discount tourist passes:

• New York Pass
• City Pass
• GO New York

Free admission on Mondays between 3:30 pm and 5 pm.

To get these free tickets, you need to request them starting at 7 am on the Monday of your visit on the official website.

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Address

180 Greenwich St, Lower Manhattan

The 9/11 Memorial and Museum are in the World Trade Center complex.
You can enter at the corner of Liberty and Greenwich, at Liberty and West Street, at West and Fulton Street, or at the corner of Fulton and Greenwich.

Getting there

Subway lines A, C, 1, 2 and 3. Chambers Street station
Subway lines A, C, J, Z, 2, 3, 4 and 5. Fulton Street station
Subway lines 2 and 3. Park Place station
Subway line E. World Trade Center station
Subway line R. Rector Street or Cortlandt Street stations
Subway line 1. Rector Street station