Final voicemails of victims and images of people falling from the Twin Towers are among the harrowing symbols of the September 11th attacks being unveiled at a new museum in Ground Zero.
Tens of thousands of artefacts, photographs, videos and recordings will be on show as the venue opens its doors to survivors of the attacks, victims' families and first responders.
The US President Barack Obama will attend the dedication ceremony before the museum opens to general public on May 21st.
On entering the museum, visitors will see rusted tops of two of the World Trade Centre's trident-shaped columns.
These stairs provided an unobstructed exit for hundreds of people from the World Trade Centre
They will then walk through a dark corridor where recordings of voices of people remembering the day will be played before being led to a structure covered with the numbers of police precincts and firehouses and other messages.
A staircase used by hundreds to escape the burning towers is also on show with other artifacts including a mangled piece of the antenna from the top of the trade centre and a fire engine with its cab shorn off.
This piece of steel was once part of the façade of the North Tower
Visitors will then be shown fragments of planes, a teddy bear left at the impromptu memorials that arose after the attacks, while the sounds of emergency radio transmissions and office workers calling loved ones will be played.
Museum President Joe Daniels said "You won't walk out of this museum without a feeling that you understand humanity in a deeper way. And for a museum, if we can achieve that objective, we've done our job".
Before its completion the project suffered construction problems, financial arguments and disputes over the best way to honour the nearly 3,000 people killed in New York, Washington and Pennsylvania.
Ash, and debris from the collapsed Twin Towers filled the interior of retail store 'Chelsea Jeans', which was preserved by owner David Cohen
The venue has more than 10,000 artefacts on show - among the most powerful of which are the last voicemail messages left by those who died.
