9/11 museum will keep the fairytale alive.
The time has come to cross the t’s and dot the i’s. The development of the National September 11 Memorial and Museum at the World Trade Center is far enough along that officials are now asking the victims’ next of kin to confirm the accuracy of the names that are to be inscribed around the memorial pools. They are also asking family members to share stories and mementos from the victims’ lives to incorporate into a permanent display. In doing so, they are showing some preliminary new images — still quite conceptual — of what the museum’s memorial exhibition hall would look like. The north half of the museum is devoted to history. The part that sits under the south memorial pool, within the structural footprint of 2 World Trade Center, is devoted to commemoration. This exhibition hall, far underground and close to bedrock, would be approached by a small footbridge across a trough with visible remnants of the south tower’s perimeter columns. Visitors would clearly know they were ente...