(PCM) On this thirteenth anniversary of the 9/11 tragedy we have learned that the secret “family room” which was only accessible to the immediate family members of the attack victims as a place for them to both mourn and remember their loved ones has opened to the public for the first time since the attacks.
The original “family room” was located in an office space located on the 20th floor of New York’s 1 Liberty Plaza that was donated for the use as a personal shrine that the families were able to use as way to both pay tribute to the victims and assist them with saying goodbye to their loved ones. The “family room” operated for the past twelve years and then this summer a private gathering space opened up in the National September 11 Memorial Museum where they gathered the contents that family members did not reclaim from the original “Family Room.” Each family member was given the option of claiming and/or donating.
“This week, 150 miles north of ground zero, the Family Room — and a thousand stories of love and loss — has opened to the public for the first time, in an exhibition at the New York State Museum in Albany,” reports The New York Times. “The display speaks of the personal communion between the victims’ relatives and those who were killed 13 years ago, when terrorists took down the twin towers.”
The “Family Room” that was recreated in the museum contains the artifacts and remembrances from approximately 1,000 9/11 victims. You can check out a tour of the “Family Room” online, if you are unable to make it to the exhibition.