Soon after the September 11 attacks on the World Trade Center, New York’s Mayor, Rudy Giuliani, vowed that the site would be rebuilt. And by rebuilt, he didn’t mean a squat museum or memorial site. No, as part of his speech he promised: “The skyline will be made whole again”.
Now, finally, it has been. On the Ground Zero site there now stands a new tower, which reaches the same height (1,368 feet) as the tallest of the original pair. The spire reaches up to 1,776 feet, a height which references the 1776 Declaration of Independence.
Construction on the new One World Trade Center tower began in October 2005, and, appropriately enough, officially finished last Monday, on Memorial Day. Offices, including Conde Nast, began moving in at the end of last year.
To celebrate, webcam firm EarthCam has released a two minute timelapse video showing 11 years of construction on the site.
The new One World Trade Center has already run into its fair share of controversy – the cafeteria is terrible, apparently, and the marble-lined subway station below it cost a mind-boggling $4bn – but it’s worth remembering the tower’s symbolic significance, and its testimony to New York City’s refusal to be beaten.
