9/11 Victims' Remains to Be Stored at WTC Memorial Museum

The physical remains of the unidentified victims of the 2001 terror attacks are to be stored permanently at the new 9/11 Memorial Museum, says a CNN report.

Roughly 8,000 remains are currently in the custody of New York City's Office of Chief Medical Examiner. They will be moved to the museum and stored behind a wall in an area that will be off-limits to the public. Only medical examiners and victims' relatives will be allowed to access the repository.

The wall behind which they are stored will bear the inscription, "No day shall erase you from the memory of time," by the Roman poet Virgil, reports BuzzFeed.

A petition filed in 2011 by 17 victims' families to have input on what to do with the remains was unsuccessful.  According to CNN, the museum's website said the decision to store the remains on its premises was made in consultation from victims' families.

The museum, at the former World Trade Center site, is scheduled to open to the public May 21, after a ceremonial opening on May 15. During the intervening six-day dedication period, the museum will be open around the clock to 9/11 family members, rescuers, and others with direct connections to the attacks, BuzzFeed reported.

The museum was originally supposed to open on the 10th anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, but those plans were scuttled because of construction delays related in part to Superstorm Sandy, as well as a funding dispute between the museum site's owner and the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, reports the Associated Press.

The museum will feature two main exhibitions. One, called "In Memoriam," will honor the 2,983 victims of the attacks and also the six people killed in the Feb. 26, 1993, truck bombing of the World Trade Center. The second exhibition will be a historical analysis of 9/11 and the events preceding it.

The outdoor World Trade Center memorial plaza, which is open, is free to visit and will remain so. Entry to the 9/11 Memorial Museum will cost $24, a policy that has drawn criticism from victims' families.

Related Stories:

• 9/11 Families Criticize New Ground Zero Memorial Museum
• NY Post: 9/11 Memorial Visitors Pressured to 'Donate'