Beautiful time-lapse captures 10-year construction of 9/11 Memorial Museum

Updated May 27, 2014

911 Memorial Musueum time lapse

There is an undeniable beauty and resilience to the National September 11 Memorial Museum that quietly captures how we as Americans came to terms with that awful tragedy nearly 13 years ago. It is evidence of both the will to move forward and to grow, while choosing to never ignore the undeniable impact and pain our country experienced on that day.

Last week, on May 21, the museum opened its doors to the public for the first time and has been met with both praise and criticism. That controversy is not surprising. The attacks of 9/11 will feel like a fresh wound for quite some time for Americans.

But few have questioned the beauty of the site itself and the time-lapse video below chronicles 10 years of construction to build both the memorial, with its two beautiful pools and cascading waterfalls in the footprints of the Twin Towers, and the museum, filled with artifacts and stories in memory of the nearly 3,000 people killed in the attacks.

The footage was captured by EarthCam CEO Brian Cury who, according to a report from Mashable, set up the first cameras to chronicle recovery at Ground Zero just days after the attacks. Cury added more cameras in the years that followed and this time-lapse is the combination of millions of images. Cameras remain on the site to this day giving everyone a live look at the site online. Watch the video below and have a great Memorial Day with your friends and loved ones.

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