Statue of Liberty Closes Just After 9/11 Memorial Opens

Not permanently, of course. But the Park Service announced this week that the Statue of Liberty would close on October 29th for a year. That date is one day after the Statue's 125th anniversary festivities; Lady Liberty is set to undergo a $27 million renovation. The exterior of the Statue won't be affected, but the Parks Service will be giving the interior of the structure a thorough overhaul.

USA Today reported that only about 30% of the tourists who head to Liberty Island ever step inside the statue, so ferries to the island will continue unabated. (My guess is it will be a particularly good time to see Ellis Islands, since the crowds who try to see both will be diminished). Alas, you can't sneak in a visit to Lady Liberty before the October deadline: all tickets for statue visits until the closing are sold out.

A little over a month before the Grand Lady shutters, the long-awaited 9/11 Memorial  will open at Ground Zero. Because it will be in the midst of an active construction site, tickets will have to be obtained in advance, and will be for timed entry.  The powers that be there will also have strict regulations on what visitors can bring to the site with them (all details are at the website I've linked to above). All I know about it, so far, is that there will be a dignified memorial wall, in which all of the names of the victims of the attacks will be engraved. I'm very much looking forward to seeing what else the site will put on display. The Museum is expected to debut in 2012.

And I just got word of one other 9/11 tribute that will be open in New York City in September. The New Museum will present a work that's lived at the Corcoran Gallery in Washington for quite some time, artist Elena del Rivero's [Swi:t] Home: A Chant.  Ms. del Rivero had lived opposite the World Trade Center at the time of the attacks. She was in Spain when the planes hit the World Trade Center and returned to her apartment several minutes later to find it filled with dust and debris from the buildings. After cataloging the memos, and other personal effects, she incorporated them into what is, by all accounts, a moving work of art.

The New Museum is giving the piece its New York City debut from September 7-26. Admission to the Museum will be free on September 11.

Source: http://paulinefrommerbriefing.blogspot.com/2011/08/statue-of-liberty-closes-just-after-911.html

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