National 9/11 museum at standstill as anniversary nears_美文

National 9/11 museum at standstill as anniversary nears

But it is a collection that will never be shown that has caused the fiercest controversy: a repository for 9,000 unidentified fragments of human bone and tissue. It will be seven stories underground and off-limits to all but family members and the medical examiner. Riches and members of 16 other families have filed a lawsuit: they want the remains entombed above ground.

“There’s no museums, I don’t think, in the whole country that put human remains in the museum, and you also would have to get the permission of the family members to do such a thing," said Riches.

Mayor Michael Bloomberg, chairman of the museum foundation, says the repository is needed for possible future DNA identification.

“One of the centerpieces of the museum, in terms of visibility and respect, is where you put the unidentified remains, and it is not just in a small place, it is in a facility that also has what the medical examiner thinks will be necessary down the road as technology gets better," said Bloomberg.

Another issue: an atheists’ group has filed suit to stop the display of a cross-shaped steel beam that became an icon for recovery workers at Ground Zero. The foundation responds that it is being displayed as an artifact, not as a religious object.