Sept. 11 Memorial Museum at Ground Zero Prepares for Opening

THE NEW YORK TIMES
By Holland Cotter

Two of the World Trade Center’s signature trident columns dominate the entry pavilion.

NEW YORK---After a decade marked by deep grief, partisan rancor, war, financial boondoggles and inundation from Hurricane Sandy, the National September 11 Memorial Museum at ground zero is finally opening ceremonially on Thursday, with President Obama present, and officially to the public next Wednesday. Its nearest equivalent I can think of is the dynamic of religious pilgrimage sites, whether Christian churches, Buddhist temples or Sufi shrines. The prevailing story in the museum, as in a church, is framed in moral terms, as a story of angels and devils. In this telling, the angels are many and heroic, the devils few and vile, a band of Islamist radicals, as they are identified in a cut-and-dried, contextless and unnuanced film called “The Rise of Al Qaeda,” seen at the end of the exhibition. [link]