O world trade center is a commercial and financial complex located in New York City, in the United States. Located in the neighborhood (or burgh) of Manhattan and a symbol of North American capitalism, the World Trade Center was inaugurated on April 4, 1973 and housed two of the largest buildings in the country: the North Tower and the South Tower, better known as the Twin Towers, destroyed in the terrorist attack of September 11, 2001.
Currently, the World Trade Center, in addition to maintaining its role as the commercial and financial center of the country, represents an important cultural and historical destination in the United States. The complex is home to the 9/11 Memorial and Museum, which honors the thousands of people who lost their lives. lives in the two terrorist attacks that the World Trade Center has been the target of throughout its history, in 1993 and 2001.
Read too: Statue of Liberty — the story of one of America's great symbols
Topics of this article
- 1 - Summary about the World Trade Center
- 2 - Characteristics of the World Trade Center
- 3 - Origin and history of the World Trade Center
- 4 - Significant events of the World Trade Center
- 5 - What is the importance of the World Trade Center?
- 6 - World Trade Center today
- 7 - Curiosities about the World Trade Center
Summary about the World Trade Center
The World Trade Center is a commercial complex located in New York City, in the United States.
It opened on April 4, 1973.
It contains office buildings, green areas, the 9/11 Memorial and Museum, an Orthodox church and an arts center under construction.
It housed the Twin Towers, which represented capitalism and the American economy.
The Twin Towers were destroyed in the September 11, 2001 terrorist attack.
Before 9/11, the World Trade Center was the target of a terrorist attack with explosives in 1993.
Today the main building of the World Trade Center is One World Trade Center, or WTC 1.
WTC 1 is the tallest building in New York City, and is a representative of innovation and technology, considering that it houses companies in this sector.
Features of the World Trade Center
The World Trade Center (WTC) is a commercial complex of approximately 650,000 m² of area located at New York City, in the United States. This important complex is described as the gateway to Lower Manhattan, an area bathed by the Hudson River. Close to the World Trade Center is the main American financial center: Wall Street, the street that houses the financial district of the country.
The World Trade Center complex, opened on April 4, 1973, housed the WTC 1 (North Tower) and WTC 2 (South Tower) buildings, better known as the Twin Towers. The towers had 110 floors each, and were the tallest buildings in New York City until 2001, when the September 11 terrorist attack caused their destruction. The North and South towers were, respectively, 417 meters and 415 meters high. In the case of the North Tower, the antenna installed at the top made it rise to 527 meters.
About 430 different companies had their offices installed in the Twin Towers, which were the workplace of more than 35,000 people. Among the tenants were automakers, investment banks, insurance companies, IT companies, telecommunications companies, airlines and television channels.
One World Trade Center, or World Trade Center 1, is currently the main building in the complex. Considered the tallest building in the Western Hemisphere, at 541 meters, WTC 1 opened in 2014 under the name of Freedom Tower. This skyscraper mainly houses communication and technology companies, as well as hotels and restaurants. It has become a symbol of innovation and modernity. Next to it are other commercial buildings, most opened in 2013.
Do not stop now... There's more after the publicity ;)
Origin and history of the World Trade Center
You Preparations for building the World Trade Center date back to the 1940s, when legislation was approved authorizing the execution of a project for the construction of a 70-story building. In 1958, the idea arose for the installation of a commercial complex on the island of Manhattan, in the neighborhood of Lower Manhattan, which had the consent of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, responsible for the administration of the World Trade Center since the principle. Among those responsible for the new project was David Rockefeller, who, at the time, held the position of vice president of Chase Bank.
O World Trade Center installation site was defined in 1962, and construction on the complex began on August 5, 1966. The towers themselves began to be raised in the same period, but in 1968. The design chosen for the main buildings, known as the Twin Towers, was created by the American architect Minoru Yamasaki.
![Ground excavation in progress for construction of the Twin Towers at the World Trade Center in April 1968.[2]](/f/2eb81ae7c91a35aaea5f9ed823b0b65f.jpg)
Two years after construction began, the North Tower was already the tallest building in the world., over 380 meters high, surpassing the Empire State Building, the famous skyscraper located on Fifth Avenue, in New York.
The World Trade Center was opened on April 4, 1973, becoming one of the symbols of the city of New York and the postcard of Manhattan. For approximately one month, the Twin Towers could be classified as the tallest buildings in the world, until the completion of the Willis Tower, in May of that year, in Chicago, in the state of Illinois. The last building in the complex, called World Trade Center 7, was completed in March 1987, and opened three months later.
Read too: Eiffel Tower — the history of the 330-meter-high monument located in Paris
Landmark Events at the World Trade Center
Over half a century of existence of the World Trade Center, two sad events marked the history of this important commercial complex.
Bomb attack in 1993: almost 20 years after the inauguration of the complex, on February 26, 1993, a group of terrorists implanted more than 500 kilos of an explosive made from urea nitrate in an underground garage of the World Trade Center, with the aim of bringing down the Tower North. The explosives were inside a van that was parked at the site and were detonated at 12 hours and 18 minutes. The explosion caused the death of six people and a baby still in the womb, in addition to damaging the local structure.
September 11, 2001 attack: On September 11, 2001, four commercial airliners were hijacked by members of the terrorist organization Al-Qaeda, changing the flight route to reach its main targets, among which was the World Trade Center. The first plane, American Airlines Flight 11, crashed into the North Tower at 8:46 am local time. Shortly afterwards, at 9:03 am, the second plane, from Flight 175 of the same airline, was launched against the South Tower. This was the first tower to collapse, about 56 minutes after the attack. The North Tower collapsed at 10:28 am. The number of deaths caused by the attack on the World Trade Center was 2977. To learn more about this attack, click here.
Tribute in Light: six months after the attacks on the World Trade Center, the governor of the state of New York and the mayor of city of the same name approved the installation of the first memorial in honor of the victims of the 9/11 attack September. The memorial consisted of 44 spotlights arranged on a square base and projecting their lights upwards, forming the silhouette of the Twin Towers. It was first lit on March 11, 2002.
How important is the World Trade Center?
The World Trade Center is located in one of the most upscale areas of New York City, considered one of the most important financial and commercial centers in the United States and the world. For a long time, as we have seen, the WTC complex represented the economic power of the capitalist system North American, being today a symbol of modernity and innovation for the activities that are developed there.
The World Trade Center has always played the role of new york tourist spot, being one of the postcards of Manhattan. In the buildings are luxury restaurants and hotels, which also serve as attractions for visitors. With the September 11 attacks, the place became an important site for preserving the memory of those who lost their lives in the attacks, as well as a much sought-after destination for teachers, students and others. interested in US history.
World Trade Center today
The World Trade Center currently maintains one of its main functions since its inception: that of a financial and commercial center. O its main building, as we saw, it's the One World Trade Center, or WTC 1, whose construction was completed in 2013. The inauguration of WTC 1 took place on November 3, 2014, and the skyscraper now houses several offices of innovation, technology and communication companies. By February 2020, approximately 93% of the building had already been leased.
In 2003, two decades after the first attack on the World Trade Center, a competition to choose the design of the memorial that would honor the victims of the 1993 and from 2001. By the end of that same year, the complete plan for the restoration and reconstruction of the World Trade Center was presented.
Michael Arad and Peter Walker were the architects responsible for the design of the memorial, called Reflecting Absence, formed by two large structures, the North and South pools, built in the area now referred to as Ground Zero of the World Trade Center, where the Twin Towers stayed. Around these pools, the names of the fatal victims of the attack were engraved. The opening of the memorial to the public took place on September 12, 2011.
O 9/11 Memorial and Museum is currently one of the main visiting points of the World Trade Center, a complex that has also become a cultural and historical tourist destination in New York and the United States. The venue was fully opened to the public on May 21, 2014.
![Night view of the North Reflective Pool with the 9/11 Memorial in the background.[4]](/f/0e18a3b2b1c8a65d15459f93db353301.jpg)
O current World Trade Center, plus WTC 1 and the 9/11 Memorial and Museum, the fight:
Parque da Liberdade — a green area;
an orthodox church — the Church of St. Nicholas;
the Oculus station, on the rail system operated by the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey;
three towers in operation (WTC 4, 3 and 7) and another two towers under construction (WTC 2 and 5);
a performing arts center under construction — the Ronald O. Perelman Performing Arts Center.
Facts about the World Trade Center
The Twin Towers had, together, 198 elevators.
There were over 46,000 windows in the Twin Towers.
Each of the Twin Towers weighed over 250,000 tons.
The cleanup of the World Trade Center after the September 11, 2001 attacks was completed on May 30, 2002.
Pope Benedict VI visited the World Trade Center in 2008. Pope Francis, successor to Benedict VI, was also there in 2015.
Queen Elizabeth II visited Ground Zero of the World Trade Center on July 6, 2010.
One World Trade Center was built with concrete seven times stronger than that of the Twin Towers, in addition to devices as a special entrance for first responders and longer steel beams, which make it safer than other buildings that We know.
In 1974, at the age of 24, the French acrobat Philippe Petit walked between the Twin Towers on a cable positioned to create a bridge between the buildings. The images of the crossing, carried out illegally, crossed the world. The feat is portrayed in the film A travessia, from 2015.
image credits
[1] NYC Skyline September 1990 / Wikimedia Commons
[2] AvaBianca / Wikimedia Commons
[3] meunierd / Shutterstock
[4] Francois Roux/ Shutterstock
By Paloma Guitarrara
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