I will be in NYC in a few weeks and would like to pay a visit to some of the memorials for the victims of Sept 11. From the information I've gathered from this site so far there are memorials at the WTC site itself, in the church adjacent and also at Grand Central Station.
I am not sure if the following is set up as a memorial but a recent poster mentioned there is a public sculpture from the WTC located near bowling green somewhere. I also quickly caught on the local news over here in Australia a couple weeks ago that there is an exhibit set up(near Times Square I think) showing a twisted beam from one of the buildings and a damaged fire truck among other things. I'm pretty sure this is not part of a memorial but put in place to help assist in keeping people vigilant and aware of the possible outcome of terrorist attacks; please correct me if I am wrong about this.

Thanks in advance Allan

I am also interested in some of the memorials I have heard about, but I don't know if they have been dismantled. It seems there was a photo exhibit of some kind in Soho? Are there other impromptu and/or professional memorials or exhibits?

Within the Intrepid Museum, there is a corner dedicated to 9/11. They have a case of photos from that day, as well as a replica of the Statue of Liberty which had been left at one of the firehouses after that tragic day.

God save you, Allen. You've typed the "M" word. Expect lots of snotty responses to your post from people with deeply rooted personal issues about monuments and memorials.

An eternal flame was lit at Battery Park City, and I believed was moved to the WTC site. Is it still there.

Austin,
Please expand on your response. We all realise that alot of people have suffered from the events of this date and will continue to do so in the future, but what is wrong with paying your respects? While watching one the Sept 11 documentries on television, I noticed alot of people were having pictures of themselves taken infront of the WTC site. Personally I think this kind of attitude is disrespectful and add to a carnival type atmosphere. This sort of attitude is not my intention and all I would like to is pay my respects. If I have offended anyone in any way, I am sorry, maybe I should have worded this post differently.

Allan

I don't think you've written a post that's the least bit offensive. However, I imagine lots of people with, as I mentioned before, deep-rooted issues with memorials of any kind beyond the gates of a cemetery are going to be bursting their blood vessels.

The reason I hold this opinion is that not too long ago, I posted with a serious question. See, I work for a company that has just built a hotel on the site of a historic plane crash. It was in 1967, and up to that date was the worst plane crash in US history. It killed the Secretary of the Navy and his family, and the vice president of a major corporation. Plus, the crash was one of the driving reason behind American airports upgrading to radar, since many did not have it at the time. My question was whether or not seeing a memorial placque to such an important event would in any way trouble you if this placque were located on the grounds of the hotel you were staying at or the restaurant you had chosen for your meal (an Outback Steakhouse is next door to our hotel).

Well! The responses had little to do with the actual question, and were more ruminations on how innapropriate it is to memorialize the dead anywhere but on their tombstones, than anything else. There were also a couple of trolls who responded and some people who got their jollies from personal attacks.

Basically the conclusion I reached is that a memorial of the type I was asking about would deeply disturb most people and cause them to fly into a homicidal rage, attacking anything that moves -- not unlike a male Siamese fighting fish that spots another male, or its own reflection.

And naturally enough, of course, there was also one poster who replied that it would be innapropriate to honor the victims of 9/11 because the dead had their gravestones. Apparently, as near as I can surmise from that post, New York is supposed to laugh carefree, toss its head and say, "Tra-La!" about the terrorist attacks.

At any rate, you've breached the topic of memorials. Don't be surprised to see your thread hijacked by people with issues.

The sculpture you are thinking about was the globe that sat in the plaza at the WTC. It is now located in Battery just near the Staten Island Ferry.

Some of the more poignant memorials can be found at many of the cities firehouses. The firehouse located on 8th Avenue and 48th St, for example, lost over a dozen members. If you want to put a human face on that day, walk past any company that lost members.

I think what the previous poster may be refering to is the view that many people have, myself included, that the WTC site had been turned into a tourist attraction. While I recognize that not everyone went with that intention, it was hard to ignore the people mugging for their snapshots and the hordes of vendors selling crap with the WTC logo.

Please enjoy New York while you are here.

Austin, thanks for responding to your initial remarks, and thanks Rae for the perspective from a local New Yorker. If the general concencus of the New york people are against the presence of street vendors around the site, it makes you wonder why the authorities do not ban them from the area. I guess my initial question was asking if there was any way a tourist such as myself could pay their respects in relation to this day. To Rae- I have been to NYC before and enjoyed the city and its people and look forward to the same again on my next visit.

thanks

Allan -- you can visit the WTC site, although the viewing platform is now gone. A good view of the hole in the ground can probably be had from the newly reopened Winter Garden at the World Financial Center -- across West Street on the west side of the WTC site.

I'm not sure if the ad hoc memorials at St. Paul's Episcopal church (adjacent to the WTC site) are still up. But if you do visit, (and it is a beautiful and historic church in its own right before it began its mission as a rest stop for emergency workers), consider making a donation there. It cost them a fortune to renovate after they served the emergency workers. Just a thought.

There are many makeshift memorials around town -- such as at firestations and also at Grand Central. I pass the one at Grand Central every day and it is really only a taste of how painful it was to see so many pictures of beautiful, talented mothers, fathers, sisters and brothers who were missing and mourned sprout up all over the city.

You might also check the websites of various museums in town. I know the New York Historical Society (at 77 & Central Park West) was opening an exhibit of some artifacts recovered from WTC.

Lisa-- thanks for the response. I like your suggestion of making a donation at St Pauls. While planning my visit, most things I included were of a contemporary nature. I was only recently aware of the age of St Pauls and never put much thought into visiting the historical side of NYC; something I'm slowly adding to my itinery.

Thanks