Glass, Recovered
Survivor Glass
- Description
- Recovered unbroken glass windowpane.
- Historical Notes
- Almost all of the more than 40,000 windows in the Twin Towers shattered on September 11, 2001. Only one windowpane, from near the impact zone in the South Tower, is known to have survived intact. Jan Szumanski, superintendent for Tully Construction at Ground Zero, discovered this unbroken pane of glass still set within a fragment of the South Tower facade that landed on Church Street. He extricated the glass and was aided in its preservation by Joseph Carsky, Tully’s chief engineer.
Curator's Comment
Architect Minoru Yamasaki was concerned that tenants and visitors to the World Trade Center might experience a fear of heights on the higher floors in the Twin Towers. To mitigate this fear while still keeping floor-to-ceiling views, he designed windows that were only 20 inches wide, approximately the shoulder width of an adult male.
- Accession Number: C.2011.179.89
- Dimensions: 87.75 in X 19.75 in X 0.25 in
- Dimensions (Metric): 222.885 cm X 50.165 cm X 0.635 cm
- Source: Port Authority of New York & New Jersey (donor)
- Credit Line: Recovered from the World Trade Center site after September 11, 2001
Collection 9/11 Memorial Museum, Courtesy of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey
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