Ten years on: Breathtaking images from then and now of lower Manhattan reveal how much New York has changed since 9/11

New York’s skyline has dramatically changed in ten years, as is evident in a series of before and after photos.

Streetscapes of sidewalks and people covered in ash clouds and buildings blown out, seen in remarkable images from 2001, have been captured a decade later from the same vantage point.   The most obvious change is the loss of the Twin Towers and the creation of a new building, finally progressing up after years of delay..   The top show smoke rising into the sky following the collapse of the World Trade Center. Below, the skyscraper known as One World Trade Center rises up   Office workers flee as the towers fall, top, as the south tower collapses. Below is One World Trade Center rises and roads are redone   A subway station near Ground Zero on the evening of Sept. 12, 2001 and bottom, the same Church Street vantage point with Four World Trade Center rising in the back

The under-construction One World Trade Center can be seen standing over the National September 11th Memorial and Museum in lower Manhattan ahead of the 10th anniversary of the 9/11 terror attacks next month.

The 9/11 memorial features two reflecting pools on the footprints of the twin towers and it is scheduled to be dedicated on September 11 this year.

Each pool has 30ft waterfalls on every side and the names of all 2,983 victims in the 9/11 and 1993 attacks are inscribed in bronze.

On the left, a picture taken from Park Row in lower Manhattan as the south tower collapsed and now. On the right is another angle before and after as the south tower starts to collapse and now as One World Trade Center rises up

Top, an iconic photo of firefighters beneath the destroyed mullions, the vertical struts which once faced the soaring outer walls of the World Trade Center towers, and the same view now with Four World Trade Center on the rise

A McDonald's on lower Broadway remains nearly ten years after the windows were blown out in aftermath of the terrorist attack

Dazed people covered in dust walk near the World Trade Center in the aftermath of the attacks and on a sunny day 119 months later

Its designer Michael Arad wants the memorial, surrounded by 400 oak trees, to be somewhere for New Yorkers to come together - and described the area as a ‘scar’.

 

‘This is a scar, and it's a scar that is healing,’ Mr Arad told the New York Daily News. ‘It's not a scar we're going to hide. It's just part of day-to-day life in the city.’

Emergency workers take a break on Church Street by Ground Zero on September 11 and almost ten years later pedestrians walk the same stretch by discount store Century 21

Top, an image of the destruction at Ground Zero weeks after the attack. At the bottom is the construction of Four World Trade Center. The World Financial Center is visible to the west in the background

Pre 9/11: This airview of New York Harbor with the Statue of Liberty at left and the twin towers of the World Trade Center in the background at right show the skyline of downtown Manhattan before the terror attacks on 11 September 2001

Present day: The Statue of Liberty stands before lower Manhattan just before sunset in New York on August 24, just over two weeks ahead of the 10th anniversary of the attacks on the World Trade Center

It’s hoped the memorial will finally bring some peace to the families of 9/11 victims, who will be able to visit from the 10th anniversary next month.

‘My Michael is home finally,’ Monica Iken Murphy, 41, told the New York Daily News, of her dead husband Michael Murphy. ‘They're all home.’

The memorial will then be open to the public on September 12, but visitors need to make reservations in advance because of the construction work. 

The museum is set to open on the 9/11 anniversary next year.

The foundation of World Trade Center 2 and 3 has been completed and the buildings are now at around street level.

One World Trade Center is at 80 floors and 4 World Trade Center is up to 48 of 72 floors, reported the New York Daily News.

Building work: Construction continues at the World Trade Center site on August 24 in New York City, with the National September 11 Memorial & Museum to feature two reflecting pools on the footprints of the twin towers

Lower Manhattan: New York will mark the 10th anniversary of the attack on the World Trade Center with ceremonies on September 11 this year

Looking north: The under-construction One World Trade Center, bottom, stands over New York's Manhattan skyline on August 24 ahead of the 9/11 anniversary next month

Congested area: This aerial view shows downtown Manhattan as it rebuilds following 9/11 and ahead of the 10th anniversary of the attacks

At night: A view of lower Manhattan shows One World Trade Center, right, rising above the New York skyline and the Statue of Liberty, left, on August 23