Here Are Some Of The Poignant Artifacts That Will Be On Display At The 9/11 Memorial Museum At Ground Zero [PICTURES]
When it opens in the spring of next year, The 9/11 Memorial Museum will honor the memory of those killed in the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001 and the February 26, 1993 World Trade Center bombing.
The museum will feature oral histories from survivors and first responders, as well as mementos from the Twin Towers.
Reuters' photographers got an early look at the still-under-construction museum, which currently houses some of the extraordinary debris recovered in the aftermath of September 11.
Take a look below.
The two steel "tridents" recovered from the World Trade Center soar above visitors in the entry pavilion area. They originally were embedded in the bedrock at the base of the North Tower and are 70 feet high.
The last column of steel removed from the World Trade Center site in 2002 stands in the center of the museum. It's covered with mementos and messages left by recovery workers, first responders, and family members of the victims.
To provide a sense of scale, the museum will display many of the steel beams found in the rubble. This is a "Cross" intersecting steel beam (left) and a fragment of a trident column (center) that formed the exterior structure of the buildings.
A message is written on the bottom of the "Cross": "To my friends we will miss you."
Known as "Impact Steel," these beams were ripped apart when the hijacked United Flight 175 tore into the South Tower of the World Trade Center.
New York City Fire Department's Engine Company 21 fire truck will be on permanent display, as well.
Here, you can see inside the burnt-out cab of the truck. It's a testament to the danger first-responders put themselves in immediately after the attacks.
These are called the "Survivor's Stairs." The staircase was an exit from the World Trade Center Plaza to Vesey Street, providing a way for hundreds of people to escape from the towers after the attacks.
Steel from the wreckage was transformed into symbols and tokens for victims' relatives by iron workers during their breaks sifting through the rubble.
A message from a recovery worker is taped to a wall inside the museum.
Visitors can currently access the memorial pools and plaza at Ground Zero. Both will be visible from inside the 9/11 Memorial Museum when it's complete in spring 2014.
