Ground Zero opens to public 10 years on

THE plot of land known for a decade as “Ground Zero” has opened to the public for the first time since September 11, 2001, transformed into a memorial consisting of two serene reflecting pools ringed by the chiseled-in-bronze names of the nearly 3,000 souls lost.

The 9/11 memorial plaza opened its gates at 10am yesterday under tight security. Visitors are allowed to walk among hundreds of white oak trees on the eight-acre site and gaze at the water on the exact spots where the World Trade Center’s twin towers stood.

They are also able to run their fingers over the engraved names of the 2,977 people killed in the terrorist attacks in New York, at the Pentagon and in Pennsylvania, as well as the six slain during the bombing of the Trade Center in 1993.