Society

In Pictures: Remembering 9/11

Commemorations and architectural transformations marking the September 11 attacks

Magnum Photographers

Bruno Barbey September 11, 2002: police lead the bagpipe procession from Brooklyn to commemorate the one year anniversary of the attacks on the World Trade Center. New York City, USA. © Bruno Barbey | Magnum Photos
Gilles Peress September 11, 2002: residents line the streets in the early morning hours to watch a procession of bagpipe players make their way from Brooklyn to Ground Zero. New York City, USA. © Gilles Peress | Magnum Photos
Bruno Barbey September 11, 2002: families of the victims of the attacks on the World Trade Center commemorate the one year anniversary during the memorial ceremony at Ground Zero. New York City, USA. © Bruno Barbey | Magnum Photos
Eli Reed September 11, 2002: a coffin containing an effigy of Osama bin Laden was brought to the World Trade Center memorial ceremony by a man from South Carolina. New York City, USA. © Eli Reed | Magnum Photos
Bruno Barbey September 11, 2002: families of victims of the World Trade Center attacks prepare to remember their loved ones by laying flowers or other memorabilia on ground zero during the memorial ceremony com (...)
Larry Towell September 10, 2002: a "NO TO WAR ON IRAQ" banner lies on the ground during a Brooklyn peace vigil in Cadman Plaza Park during the one-year anniversary of the attacks on the World Trade Center. New (...)
Susan Meiselas September 11, 2002: across from Ground Zero, people attend the memorial ceremony to commemorate the one year anniversary of the attacks on the World Trade Center. New York City, USA. © Susan Meiselas | Magnum Photos
Bruno Barbey September 11, 2002: People watch the World Trade Center one year anniversary memorial ceremony on ground zero from the World Financial Center. New York City, USA. © Bruno Barbey | Magnum Photos
Gilles Peress September 11, 2002: Construction workers watch the Ground Zero ceremonies to mark the one-year anniversary of the attack on the World Trade Center. New York City, USA. © Gilles Peress | Magnum Photos
Hiroji Kubota September 11th, 2002: memorial concert and candle light vigil in Central Park. New York City, USA. © Hiroji Kubota | Magnum Photos
Susan Meiselas September 11, 2002: people commemorate the victims of the World Trade Center attacks at a candlelight vigil in Central Park. New York City, USA. © Susan Meiselas | Magnum Photos
Eli Reed September 10, 2002: a couple from Plymouth, MA, travel to NYC to commemorate the one year anniversary of the attack on the World Trade Center. New York City, USA. © Eli Reed | Magnum Photos
Bruce Gilden September 11, 2002: on Broadway in the Wall Street area, a man wearing a tie with the World Trade Center on it commemorates the one year anniversary of the attacks. New York City, USA. © Bruce Gilden | Magnum Photos
Leonard Freed September 11, 2002: a man becomes part of the memorabilia to commemorate the attacks on the World Trade Center on the wall outside St Paul's Chapel near ground zero on the one year anniversary of t (...)
Thomas Hoepker September 11, 2002: view of a memorial to the victims of September 11th, seen from the tower of SS Peter and Paul's Church. Three thousand thirty-seven small flags are planted in Washington Square (...)
Paul Fusco September 11, 2003: protective netting over a fence surrounding Ground Zero. New York City, USA. © Paul Fusco | Magnum Photos
Thomas Dworzak 11 September 2004: September 11 commemorations at Ground Zero. New York City, USA. © Thomas Dworzak | Magnum Photos
Thomas Dworzak Commemoration of 9/11 attacks, 2004. New York City, USA. © Thomas Dworzak | Magnum Photos
Paul Fusco September 11, 2005: Memorial at the World Trade Center site. New York City, USA. © Paul Fusco | Magnum Photos
Paul Fusco September 11, 2005: memorial at the World Trade Center site. New York City, USA. © Paul Fusco | Magnum Photos
Peter van Agtmael A commercial for a commemorative coin marking the fifth anniversary of the September 11 attacks. "When I returned home from war zones I had trouble sleeping and often watched TV late at night. The (...)
Thomas Dworzak September 11, 2007: commemoration ceremonies for the 2001 terror attacks at Ground Zero. New York City, USA. © Thomas Dworzak | Magnum Photos
Thomas Dworzak September 11, 2007: commemoration ceremonies for the 2001 terror attacks at Ground Zero. New York City, USA. © Thomas Dworzak | Magnum Photos
Thomas Dworzak September 11, 2007: commemoration ceremonies for the 2001 terror attacks at Ground Zero. New York City, USA. © Thomas Dworzak | Magnum Photos
Gilles Peress September 11, 2008: anniversary ceremonies near Ground Zero. New York City, USA. © Gilles Peress | Magnum Photos
Richard Kalvar World Trade Center: the North Pool, where the old WTC 1 building (the North Tower) stood. New York City, USA. © Richard Kalvar | Magnum Photos
Susan Meiselas Visitors at the 9/11 Memorial Museum. New York City, USA, 2015. © Susan Meiselas | Magnum Photos
Christopher Anderson Firefighters' hats from Ladder 3 and Truck 1 that were killed at Ground Zero. New York City, USA, 2011. © Christopher Anderson | Magnum Photos
Thomas Hoepker View from World Financial Center toward the Wolrd Trade Center construction site. New York City, USA, 2011. © Thomas Hoepker | Magnum Photos
Christopher Anderson The new World Trade Center: Artist Todd Stone at work on his paintings of lower Manhattan from his temporary studio in the unfinished, 67th floor of 4 World Trade Center. New York City, USA. © Christopher Anderson | Magnum Photos
Christopher Anderson The new World Trade Center: the view from 1 World Trade Center, the tallest building in the Western Hemisphere. New York City, USA, 2016. © Christopher Anderson | Magnum Photos
Susan Meiselas The names of 9/11 victims remain covered around South Memorial Pool, 9/11 Memorial Site. New York City, USA. 2011. © Susan Meiselas | Magnum Photos
Susan Meiselas The World Trade Center "Path" train sign at the New York State Museum. Albany, NY, USA, 2011. © Susan Meiselas | Magnum Photos
Josef Koudelka The Twin Towers of the World Trade Center as it stood in 1988. New York City, USA. © Josef Koudelka | Magnum Photos
Steve McCurry September 11, 2002: two beams of light mark where the World Trade Center towers stood. New York City, USA. © Steve McCurry | Magnum Photos

On September 11, 2002, a year exactly since the four deadly, coordinated terrorist attacks by Islamist group Al-Qaeda on American soil, thousands gathered at Ground Zero to remember the lives lost twelve months before.

Crashing into the World Trade Center, the Pentagon, and Shanksville, PA, the hijacked planes wrought unprecedented casualties and damage; a searing jolt through the Western world and a deep wound on the American psyche which have defined the course of the global political agenda since.

On the very day of the attacks, the mayor of New York at the time, Rudy Giuliani, declared, “We will rebuild. We’re going to come out of this stronger than before, politically stronger, economically stronger. The skyline will be made whole again.”

Every year since, the events have been commemorated globally, with a focus on the site of the Twin Towers, which has been gradually rebuilt.

The slideshow above charts some of these events, seen through the lenses of a diverse range of Magnum photographers over the years.

These images bring subjective and personal points of view to the rebuilding of a city many Magnum members have deep bonds with and call home.

Together, they bear testimony to a changed political landscape in the wake of these events.

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