In my generation, our “date which will live in infamy,” was the morning of September 11th, 2001. It was a normal morning for me as I got ready for another day in the classroom. For some reason, I turned on the TV in my room, something I don’t usually do and I watched as two news reporters commented about a plane that had flown into one of the Twin Towers. Behind them was footage of flames coming from the building and then a second plane could be seen flying straight into the second tower. As we all processed the images we just saw in shock and horror, we knew that the world would look irrevocably different in that split second. The days following would be ones of fear, confusion, anger and a test of the human spirit. As the world watched to see history unfold and a country mourned and picked up the pieces, we vowed to retaliate and rebuild.
Today, almost 14 years after the attack on 9/11, a memorial stands at the site where so many perished that fateful day. The newly built One World Trade Center stands tall and proud high above overlooking the site where the two towers fell. At 1,776 feet and dubbed the Freedom Tower, the skyscraper is the tallest in the Western Hemisphere. Last week, a new observatory with its enclosed observation deck towering 1,250 feet above the street level opened to the public. To recognize this event, EarthCam released a commemorative time-lapse video that shows the construction of the 104 story structure from October 2004 to Memorial Day 2015.
[REWIND: ON TOP OF THE WORLD: MAKING OF THE ONE WORLD TRADE CENTER PANORAMA]
EarthCam has been there since the first days after the attack with live webcasting of the rescue and recovery efforts. As the rebuilidng efforts began, they installed more cameras to document the events in an effort to have photographic documentation for future generations. Last year, they also released a timelapse of the construction of the Memorial Museum. In all, over one million photos have been taken by EarthCam, with over a hundred thousand high definition images compiled in the time-lapse below. EarthCam has donated all of the images to the 9/11 Memorial Museum and hopes to honor the victims and families of 9/11.
Watch the “Official 11 Year Time-lapse Movie of One World Trade Center”
[Via DIY Photography/EarthCam]
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