New on View: Artifacts Rotated into 9/11 Memorial Museum’s Tribute Walk

A firehouse garage door memorializing fallen firefighters, three tribute motorcycles, a journal filled with messages of condolence and encouragement, a model of the Statute of Liberty, and the Renaissance Peace Angel comprise a new rotation of artifacts on view in the 9/11 Memorial Museum’s Tribute Walk.

The items highlight the diverse means of tribute in the months and years following the 9/11 attacks. Updated stops in the “Witnessing History” and “Discovering History” audio guide tours will accompany the rotation. The artifacts will be on view through early 2020.

Firehouse garage door with mural memorializing firefighters
Presented with permission of the City of New York and the New York City Fire Department, Courtesy of Engine 205/Ladder 118, and artists Kia Carbone, Kye Carbone, and Lt. Frank Visco (Retired), Artwork Courtesy of Friends of Firefighters, Inc.

This garage door is from a firehouse in Brooklyn Heights, home to FDNY Engine Company 205 and Ladder Company 118. The door features a mural honoring the eight members of the firehouse who were killed responding to the attacks at the World Trade Center.

Three motorcycles decorated in tribute to 9/11 victims and first responders
From left to right: 9/11 Memorial Chopper, courtesy of Daniel R. Tishman; Motorcycle dedicated to first responders. Collection 9/11 Memorial Museum, Gift of the Ted Sjurseth family; Motorcycle decorated in tribute to James Marcel Cartier, Courtesy of John Cartier.

These three motorcycles were designed to commemorate the victims and first responders and serve as memorials to the attacks and to the rebuilding of the World Trade Center site.

Lady Liberty
Collection 9/11 Memorial Museum, Gift in memory of the courageous firefighters from Engine 54/Ladder 4/Battalion 9 killed at the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001.

Soon after 9/11, a fiberglass model of the Statue of Liberty appeared in front of a firehouse in midtown Manhattan, home to FDNY Engine Company 54, Ladder Company 4, and Battalion 9. Fifteen members of the firehouse were killed as a result of the attacks on the World Trade Center.

Visitors to the firehouse began to leave tributes on the statue, including small American flags, condolence messages, prayer cards, rosary beads, patches bearing military and uniformed service insignia, money, and other offerings. The statue soon became known as Lady Liberty.

Renaissance Peace Angel, 1994–1997
Lin Evola (American, b. 1950), bronze and decommissioned weapons, Collection 9/11 Memorial Museum, Gift of Linda Marie Viola Evola Warnke Smidt

Prior to 9/11, Evola hoped to display her conceptual sculpture Renaissance Peace Angel within the World Trade Center complex. Shortly after the site’s destruction, she met Antonio “Nino” Vendome, who had established a 24-hour-a-day canteen for rescue and recovery workers at his family’s restaurant, Nino’s, on Canal Street in lower Manhattan. Vendome agreed to install the Renaissance Peace Angel in front of the restaurant. The sculpture became a landmark for Ground Zero workers and volunteers, many of whom signed its cement base.

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By 9/11 Memorial Staff