NEW YORK (AP) - Photographs of the aftermath of the Sept. 11 attacks and of relics in storage in an airport hangar were unveiled Wednesday on the fence surrounding the World Trade Center site, comprising the first exhibit introduced by planners of a Sept. 11 museum.
The outdoor exhibit of professional and amateur photos allows visitors to recall the attacks through the eyes of those who witnessed the twin towers' collapse nearly five years ago, said museum director Alice Greenwald.
"I'm most hopeful that it will bring people to the moment when we came together as a community," Greenwald said. "That is what people long for, that sense of common caring."
The 52 photos make up "Here: Remembering 9/11," displayed on the chain-link fence on the east side of the trade center site. The blown-up images are mounted on panels about 4 feet by 5 feet.
There also are two 12-foot murals showing recovered relics from the site, including the last steel column to be removed from ground zero and some of the three-pronged columns that formed the trade center's base.
Planners decided not to focus on the most graphic depictions of the attacks, such as the hijacked jetliners smashing into the towers or victims jumping out burning windows.
One photograph shows three firefighters grappling with a hose as they spray water on flames shooting out of the blackness. Other images include a portion of the tower facade that stood for months at the site, a mushroom-type cloud of falling debris chasing a fleeing man down a narrow street and a woman, her face, hair and clothing covered with white dust, walking away dazed from the burning site.
Some of those who saw the exhibit were moved to tears.
"It rips your heart out," said Dawn Ulland, of Seattle, as she, her husband and their two teenage boys viewed the display on their first visit to New York.
The collection will be on display through October. The World Trade Center Memorial Museum is expected to open in 2009 at ground zero.
Copyright © 2006 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. The information contained in the AP News report may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without the prior written authority of The Associated Press.
