2016: 9/11 Museum, NYC

Paying Condolences at the 9/11 MEMORIAL and MUSEUM , New York City, U.S.A.

'No Day Shall Erase You From The Memory Of Time' --Virgil, (First century BC Roman Poet ).

We visited the 9/11 Memorial to extend our condolences to the families of those who were killed and our thoughts to all who were affected. We knew a few of them personally. It was painful. I wish there were no destruction and no memorials any time any where ! .

Fig.1&2. two large Pools and waterfalls within the footprints of the original Twin Towers

A memorial and museum has been established in the down town Manhattan, New York, U.S.A. at the same place, where once twin towers were standing tall, before Islamic- terrorist-attack on World Trade Center. Occupying eight of the 16 acres at the World Trade Center, the current 9/11 Memorial and Museum are now a National pilgrimage for American people and also people from around the world . The National September 11 Memorial & Museum-- It is a tribute of remembrance and honor to 2994 innocent civilians who laid their life on September 9, 2001 and also the six victims of the February 26, 1993 attack by a Pakistan trained Islamic-terrorist. I do many times ponder if these types of mindless attacks could have ever been avoided.

Fig.3,4 &5. Seven new towers are planned in the old complex of Twin Towers

The 9/11 episode in U.S.A. or any other attack by Islamic militants and / or between two different sects with in Islam, anywhere in the world were the outcome of wrong interpretation of tenets of Islam. Some observers suggest Islamism's tenets are less strict, and can be defined as a form of identity politics. Islamists may emphasize the implementation of Sharia (Islamic law);of pan-Islamic political unity, including an Islamic state, and of the selective removal of non-Muslim infidels, particularly Western military, economic, political, social, or cultural influences in the Muslim world that they believe to be incompatible with Islam. They support for [Muslim] identity, authenticity, broader regionalism,

Fig.6,7,8 & 9. A part of tour to the New Museum in old complex of Twin Towers.

revivalism, and revitalization of the community. Following the Arab Spring in , political Islam became heavily involved with political democracy, but also spawned " the most aggressive and ambitious Islamist militia " to date, ISIS. Whatever may be reasons, the moot question is whether the hypothesis and beliefs of 7^th century Islam can be implemented in the world of 21^st century ?.

9/11 Memorial Plaza--A tribute to the past and a place of hope for the future is alive with twin spirits of remembrance & renewal. The 8-acre park is a supremely contemplative sanctuary, composed of a grove of nearly 400 white oak trees, and the two largest manmade waterfalls in the United States. Set within the footprints of the original Twin Towers, each pool is approximately 1-acre in size. The names of every person who perished in the terror attacks of February 26, 1993 & September 11, 2001 are honored in bronze around the twin Memorial pools.

The largest of the spaces within the Museum is Foundation Hall, a room with ceilings ranging

Fig.10. slurry wall―a retaining wall originally built to hold back the water from nearby Hudson River .

Fig. 11. Revised plan of the new complex of World Trade Center.

from 40 to 60 feet and nearly 15,000 square feet of floor space. There, you can find the slurry wall―a retaining wall originally built to hold back the Hudson River―and the remnants of cutoff box columns that once formed the exterior structure of the Twin Towers. Visitors see a portion of the slurry wall, a surviving retaining wall of the original World Trade Center that withstood the devastation of 9/11. Against this backdrop, the Last Column stands 36-feet high and is covered with mementos, memorial inscriptions, and missing posters placed there by ironworkers, rescue workers and others. There are thousands of small/ big items on display sufficient to make old memories alive.

Fig. 12. A damaged Antenna installed at the top of one of the earlier Twin Towers.

Fig. 13. Beautiful Lighting near the new World Trade Center.

Visitors descend down a ramp, allowing a progressive view into the space and its enormous scale. While descending down the ramp, visitors experience a series of multi-media installations, including photographs of people who directly witnessed the attacks and missing

person fliers that appeared in the days following 9/11.The Museum tells the story of 9/11 through interactive technology, archives, narratives and a collection of artifacts. It is advised to keep handy minimum 3-4 hours, if wish to make justice with scale of efforts made, time, money spent and good amount of modern technology used, while building this memorable monument.

Dr. A. K. Srivastava

Note:- I enclose selected 13 photographs to give an inside glimpse of the tour.