by Sarah Biemiller, former Senior Program Associate for The Pew Center for Arts & Heritage

I attended Jan Ramirez’s lecture here at the Center on October 20, 2011. She came here to talk about the intricacies of designing the National September 11 Memorial Museum. The museum will consist of 110,000 square feet of exhibition space, located “within the archaeological heart” of the World Trade Center site. Using archives, personal narratives and authentic artifacts, the museum will “provide a link to the events of 9/11, while presenting intimate stories of loss, compassion, reckoning, and recovery that are central to telling the story of the attacks and the aftermath.” Ms. Ramirez’s lecture was raw. It was profound. But first and foremost, it was sensitive and thoughtful. Obviously the subject matter is delicate. She emphasized how they want to create a museum that honors all those who perished that day, as well as the countless individuals who assisted in the recovery, all the while remaining sensitive to the victims’ families and to their memory. 

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