A site that I was looking forward to visiting on this trip was the Museum of Memory. I had done a lot of research on this topic in AP Spanish in high school and the subject weighed heavily on me. While visiting the museum, I couldn’t help but notice there were parallels between it and our 9/11 memorial in New York City.
First of all, they both use enormous scale gallery walls that can be seen from almost any part of the museum. The Museum of Memory has the enormous wall filled with many picture frames of victims of the attacks and the 9/11 memorial in New York has varying shades of blue tiles to represent what color most people described the color of the sky was on 9/11/01.
New York City 9/11 memorial tile wall
My sketch of the wall of picture frames in the Museum of Memory
I think that this large scale is used to make a great impact on whoever is entering the museum and to make them realize just how many lives each specific event has effected.
Another similarity between the two museums is the use of water. I think that the water in both museums represent the absence of those who were taken from their loved ones on these days.
Museum of Memory
Reflecting pools at 9/11 memorial in NYC
Hi Blythe, I enjoyed your comparison between the U.S and Chile’s 911 memorial. I agree with your arguments that memorial buildings use a scaled wall display and water very effectively to make the event memorable for visitors. I was thinking that NYC’s memorial uses water as waving and active subject to express victims’ pain and eternity of their memory. In contrast, Chile’s museum uses water as an inactive and quiet object. The building reflects on the water surface and mentions the continuity of the buildings. I think this is also a way to show the hope to eternity memory of this event. which we should never forget this has happened in history by passing the memory to the next generations, and most importantly, never let this repeat again the future.
Great comparison! It made me think a lot!
Hi Blythe!!
I also enjoyed your comparison. It is interesting to think that two memorials for such different acts can be so similar. I too noticed a comparison between this building and another. However, my comparison was between the Holocaust Muesum in Israel and the Museum of Memory. Through your post, I also now realize that the Holocaust Museum also relates to the 9/11 Memorial. The museum also uses large grey walls and while there, I thought about the impact of how large they are to compare to the monumental effect of the acts. The color blue is also used within the design, however I had not thought of it representing the sky. Instead, I thought that it represented the somber feeling of the event so I enjoyed hearing a different perspective. Lastly, your sketch of the faces also made me think of yet another comparison. Just like there is a wall of faces at the Museum of Memory, there is also one at the Holocaust Museum that leaves an ever lasting effect on the viewers.