Ground Zero, nine years on

The place that used to be occupied by the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center in New York City in 2001 is now called Ground Zero.

The Freedom Tower that is now being constructed there can be only seen in pictures.

The Freedom Tower is expected to rise to 106 floors not earlier than in 2012. Now only 36 floors have been constructed.

This is the plan of the future memorial which is expected to be open by September 2011 on the occasion of the 10th anniversary since the tragedy.

The cost of the memorial complex construction project is estimated at billions of dollars.

Metal girders that survived under the debris of the skyscrapers will become a part of the memorial.

The foundation of the Twin Towers will be part of the memorial and will be under water to symbolize eternal memory.

The mourning day on September 11 will begin with the traditional moment of silence, a bell ringing and a commemoration service in New York cathedrals at 8.46 a.m. local time, when the first hijacked airplane crashed into the World Trade Center's North Tower.

Two beams of light will rise in the evening of September 11 at the memorial where the buildings symbolizing the financial power of New York used to stand.

Workers install a piece of the Twin Towers, known as a "trident," on a plinth.

A construction worker has a “no mosque” sticker on his helmet to protest plans for an Islamic cultural center just two blocks from the site of the tragedy. The stickers are popular among the construction workers, but the city authorities have said the principles of freedom of religion are paramount.