The 9/11 World Trade Center Memorial Museum

A cornerstone of our trip to NYC was dedicating time to visit the World Trade Center Mall and Memorial Museum. It has been on our list for quite some time, but getting to New York from Hawaii is a bit of a trek, so when we scheduled our anniversary trip there, we made reservations immediately. I was going to include this in part of my recap, but honestly – that felt wrong. The World Trade Center Museum deserves an entire dedicated post. 

I’ve been to a lot of museums in my life and so many of them have fallen short, but this one does not. I struggle to find words to adequately describe how well done this memorial museum is, but I can, without a doubt, recommend it for anyone visiting. I rarely say something is a must for everyone, but this is an exception.

 

World Trade Center Memorial

World Trade Center Museum 

 

Visiting The World Trade Center Museum 

These photos are just a small snippet of what you will find at the museum, as well as several large areas where photography and videography of any sort are strictly prohibited. There are three (that I can remember) areas that are clearly marked as very disturbing, but they are easily avoidable if you happen to be visiting with children or simply wish to skip them. We spent about two hours walking through all the exhibits, but you could very easily spend an entire morning here. I overheard a security guard mentioning that he never recommends patrons to stay more than 2-3 hours, because everything gets to be quite heavy — and he is right.

 

Outside on the mall are two large reflection pools with thousands of names of those who perished inscribed. The entire place is so moving and beautifully heartbreaking.

Have you ever visited?