This year on September 11, thousands of visitors will make their way to the World Trade Center Memorial in Manhattan. Many others will pay their respects at the Pentagon Memorial in Arlington, Virginia, or at the Flight 93 National Memorial in Shanksville, Pennsylvania. But with more than 700 9/11 memorials spread across the U.S. and many others in countries around the globe,¹ wherever you happen to be on the 9/11 anniversary, there will probably be a memorial nearby.

Most of the memorials are in New York, New Jersey, Massachusetts, and Connecticut — the states that had been home to the majority of victims. But other sites are found in unexpected places many miles away, such as the International Peace Garden 9/11 Memorial in Dunseith, North Dakota.² Here are nine moving memorials to consider visiting this September 11:

1. The National September 11 Memorial and Museum, New York City

Constructed on the World Trade Center site, the National September 11 Memorial and Museum was built to commemorate the September 11, 2001 attacks, which killed 2,977 victims, and the World Trade Center bombing of 1993, which killed six.³ The memorial consists of a forest of trees with two square pools in the center where the Twin Towers once stood. The names of the men, women and children killed in both attacks are inscribed on bronze parapets surrounding the twin memorial pools.

2. The Pentagon Memorial, Arlington, Virginia

The first national monument dedicated to the people who lost their lives on September 11, 2001, the 9/11 Pentagon Memorial honors the men, women and children killed in the attack on the Pentagon.⁴ The memorial features 184 benches — one to honor each of the lives lost when American Airlines Flight 77 crashed into the headquarters of the U.S. Department of Defense.

3. Flight 93 National Memorial in Shanksville, Pennsylvania

The Flight 93 National Memorial, part of the National Parks System, honors the 40 passengers and crew whose actions thwarted the planned attack on the U.S. Capitol.⁵ Located on the exact site where the plane went down, the memorial includes an educational visitor’s center, a scenic overlook, and newly planted forests designed to mark the land as a place of healing and renewal.

4. Monument to the Struggle Against World Terrorism, Bayonne, New Jersey

A gift from the renowned artist Zurab Tseretelli and the people of Russia, the tear-shaped Monument to the Struggle Against World Terrorism honors the victims of the September 11 attacks.⁶ Located at the tip of the former Military Ocean Terminal, the structure sits on a direct axis line with the World Trade Center site and is visible to all entering New York Harbor.

5. “Empty Sky,” Jersey City, New Jersey

Located on the Hudson River across from the World Trade Center site, “Empty Sky” is New Jersey’s official September 11 memorial to the state’s victims of the attacks.⁷ The memorial consists of twin walls to represent the Twin Towers as if they were lying on their sides. The names of all 746 New Jersey victims are etched in stainless steel.

6.  “Postcards,” Staten Island, New York

Dedicated to the 269 Staten Island residents who died on 9/11, this striking memorial features two 40-foot high, white wing-like walls representing notes sent to loved ones.⁸ Each resident who died on 9/11 is honored with a granite plaque that includes a facial silhouette, name, birth date, and place of work. Ground Zero can be seen between the wings of the structure. 

7. “Moving Memories,” Phoenix, Arizona

Located near the State Capitol in Phoenix, “Moving Memories” is a concrete disc topped by a raised ring of stainless steel and laser cut with 54 quotes, some controversial, related to the 9/11 attacks.⁹ Sunlight filters through etchings and projects them onto the ground below. At noon every September 11^th, a circle of sunlight illuminates a piece of a beam from Ground Zero.

 8. "Since 9/11,” Queen Elizabeth II Olympic Park, London

Designed by US artist Miya Ando, "Since 9/11” was commissioned by a U.K.-based charity to help educate Londoners about the attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon.¹⁰ The 28 foot-tall, four-ton memorial uses steel taken from the World Trade Center and was a gift to the UK by the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey in 2010. Sixty-seven Britons died in the 9/11 attacks.

9.  "Memory and Light,” Padua, Italy

Italy marked the fourth anniversary of the 9/11 attacks with "Memory and Light,” a glass and steel memorial that incorporates a twisted steel beam from the World Trade Center.¹¹ Daniel Libeskind, the architect who created the master plan for the reconstruction at ground zero, designed the memorial.

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