The September 11 Memorial Museum "has become one of New York City's [top] tourist attractions" since opening this May — drawing in millions of people from around the world to view the images, artifacts, sites and sounds of the terrorist attack that rattled the fabric of an entire nation.
Thursday, September 11, 2014 marks the 13th anniversary of the attacks. The museum has commemorated it with the opening of a new, chilling exhibit showcasing the manhunt and killing of former al Qaeda leader Osama Bin Laden.
CBS got a first-hand look at the new exhibit. It includes the donated uniform of the American soldier who killed Bin Laden, a brick from the compound where the raid occurred and "a pair of challenge coins" commemorating the death of the infamous al Qaeda leader.
The massive 110,000-square-foot museum contains thousands of images, artifacts and hundreds of hours of video footage — some very graphic in nature. The facility also houses as many as "8,000 unidentified human remains." (Video via NBC)
Despite its popularity since opening over the summer, the 9/11 museum has received a fair bit of criticism for high prices on both admission and gift shop items.
Especially considering it essentially serves as burial grounds for so many families who lost their loved ones.
One man, whose son was a firefighter who died in the attacks, believes his son's remains are in the museum. He told ABC he won't visit the museum until they remove his son's remains.
JIM RICHES: "My son's friends are going to have pay $24 to go down and pay their respects. I think that's a disgrace. It's the only cemetary in the world where you have to pay a fee to get in."
In the museum's defense ABC also said it doesn't receive any funding from the state or local government and relies solely on donations, admission and retail sales to keep the museum thriving.
To mark the unveiling of the new exhibit covering Bin Laden's death, the section was only open Thursday to victims' families and first responders of the 9/11 terrorist attacks.
