Large enough to require its own zip code, the iconic World Trade Center contained the tallest buildings in the world when it opened in 1973.
More than 50,000 people worked in the buildings, with another 200,000 visiting the complex every day, before its destruction in a terrorist attack in 2001.
History
Originally proposed at the end of World War II as a means of encouraging trade in New York City, construction of a “World Trade Center” began in the 1960s, after the demolition of 164 buildings to make way for the new one March.
With 110 floors in each tower, the two buildings were bigger than the world record holder at the time, the Empire State Building. The north tower reached 417 meters and the south tower was 415 meters. When the twin towers collapsed in 2001, the towers held the record for the fifth and sixth tallest buildings in the world.
A prominent piece of the New York City skyline, the twin towers were the first skyscrapers using a framed vertical tube structural system to compensate for pressure external wind. The architects designed the building with sky lobbies for express elevators to travel, an innovative method to minimize the space they occupied. Overall, the building had 97 passenger elevators and six freight elevators.
The north column was opened to merchants in December 1970, although the upper floors had not yet been completed. Tenants began moving to the south tower just over a year later, in January 1972. Both were officially completed in April 1973.
The south tower boasted an observation deck on the top floor. The north tower hosted Windows on the World, the world's tallest restaurant, on its 106th and 107th floors. Both attracted tourists who wanted to see the city from above.
Like Niagara Falls, their landmark status has made them a target for adventurers.
The 1993 attack and the 11th of September
On February 26, 1993, terrorists blew up a van in an underground parking lot under the north tower of the World Trade Center. The explosion killed six people and injured more than a thousand, but the towers were not shaken. Six Muslim fundamentalists were convicted of the crime.
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More than eight years later, on September 11, 2001, terrorists struck again, this time with more frightening results. American Airlines Flight 11, traveling from Boston to Los Angeles, collided with the North Tower of the World Trade Center, hitting several floors.
Less than twenty minutes later, United Airlines Flight 175, also flying from Boston to Los Angeles, hit the south tower. All part of a coordinated attack that included an attack on the Pentagon and a failed attempt against the Capitol in Washington, DC.
A group of 19 terrorists took control of four planes. Three hit their targets. Passengers aboard the fourth, United Airlines Flight 93, rebelled against the hijackers and the plane crashed in a field near Shanksville, Pennsylvania, killing everyone on board.
The impact on the twin towers initially sparked a fire, prompting rescuers to enter the building. But the destruction was far from over. The south tower collapsed less than an hour after impact.
The north tower also collapsed, killing more than 2,700 people inside the two towers. Nearly 3,000 people were killed in the four plane crashes, including the 19 terrorists involved.
The National September 11 Memorial was built at Ground Zero, in the footprint of the Twin Towers. Built to remember all the victims of 9/11, as well as the six victims of the 1993 World Cup attack Trade Center, the memorial houses two reflecting pools and features the largest man-made waterfalls in the world. Bronze panels bearing the names of those who died in the 1993 and 2001 attacks surround the pools.
political consequences
On the afternoon of Sept. 11, US officials named Osama bin Laden, leader of the al-Qaeda terrorist group, as the prime suspect in the attacks. Within a week, the Senate adopted a resolution authorizing the use of the US military against those responsible for the attacks. President George W. Bush announced that bin Laden was wanted "dead or alive."
The Bush administration went on to declare a war on terrorism, seeking to bring bin Laden and al-Qaeda to justice. As such, the United States spearheaded the overthrow of the Taliban regime in Afghanistan in 2002 and used Saddam Hussein's alleged involvement to invade Iraq in 2003.
In the United States, Congress passed the Homeland Security Act and the Patriot Act. The Patriot Act drew criticism especially because it allowed security agencies to invade the privacy of citizens without judicial authorization.
In 2004, Osama bin Laden claimed responsibility for the 9/11 attacks in a message broadcast on an Arab TV station. In 2011, President Barack Obama announced that bin Laden was killed in a firefight in Pakistan, nearly a decade after the horrific attacks.
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