9/11 Tribute Museum closes weeks before 21st anniversary of attacks in New York City
One of New York City’s 9/11 museums is permanently closing today, just weeks before the 21st anniversary of the worst terrorist attacks on US soil.
The 9/11 Tribute Museum, located a few blocks south of Ground Zero, is shuttering after a months-long struggle to recover after the coronavirus pandemic.
The Tribute Museum was known for what it called ‘person-to-person history’. It offered guided tours with ‘family members, survivors, first responders, and people who live in Lower Manhattan’, according to its website.
The other larger museum, the National 9/11 Memorial and Museum located at Ground Zero, will remain open.
The coronavirus pandemic hit the museum particularly hard. The museum relies heavily on attendance for funding, getting most of its revenue from ticket sales.
‘Financial hardship including lost revenue caused by the pandemic prevents us from generating sufficient funding to continue to operate the physical museum,’ said Jennifer Adams, the museum’s co-founder and CEO.
Annual admissions were only 26,000 last year, compared to 150,000 in 2019.
Over 5million people have gone to the museum since it opened in 2006.
The museum plans to maintain an online presence, where the stories told through the exhibits can be preserved.
But many are upset that a physical space where survivors could tell their stories will be no more.
‘It’s a huge loss for those people who called this their second home, where they could come and share their story,’ Adams told the New York Post.
The physical collections of artifacts will be moved to the New York State Museum in Albany.
The Museum’s leadership is asking local and state politicians to step in to save the collection.
A circulating change.org petition implores Governor Kathy Hochul and Mayor Eric Adams to get involved.
‘NY politicians have promised to help the 9/11 Tribute Museum with its pandemic-related financial woes. No help has been forthcoming,’ the petitioners said in an update two weeks ago.
It currently has about 33,300 signatures.
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