LOWER MANHATTAN — Almost two years since the National September 11 Memorial & Museum first opened to the public, the museum below the World Trade Center has welcomed more than 5 million visitors, officials said Monday.
The 110,000-square-foot exhibition space, built on the same bedrock that was once the foundation of the Twin Towers, opened in May 2014 after years of delays.
The history of 9/11 is vividly captured through multimedia displays, narratives and a collection of artifacts, both monumental, like the 58-ton steps that hundreds of survivors ran down to safety, and personal, like a handwritten note pleading for rescue, touched with bloody fingerprints and thrown from the 84th floor.
Despite what some have called an exorbitant ticket price — $24, museum officials Monday said more than 5 million people from more than 150 countries have visited the exhibit space.
“People across the nation and throughout the world recognize the Museum as the leading institution for understanding the history of 9/11, and that it uniquely presents this history in the very place where it happened,” 9/11 Memorial President Joe Daniels said in a statement.
“The millions of people coming to the Museum are a profound testament to the important stories of the 9/11 victims, the rescuers, the recovery workers and the survivors. We are grateful to each visitor for the support and for helping us to forever preserve these stories.”
