From the memorial plaza to the Tribute in Light, New Yorkers across the city are coming together to find strength and solidarity in one another.&nbsp;

The annual observance at the National September 11 Memorial and Museum included a seventh moment of silence for the first time in 25 years.
The six moments observed each year mark the times when the terrorist attacks took place: 8:46 a.m., when Flight 11 hit the North Tower; 9:03 a.m., when Flight 175 hit the South Tower; 9:37 a.m., when Flight 77 hit the Pentagon; 9:59 a.m., when the South Tower collapsed; 10:03 a.m., when Flight 93 crashed near Shanksville, Pennsylvania; and 10:28 a.m., when the North Tower collapsed. A toll bell sounded after each.
The seventh, introduced this year, paid tribute to those who have died since from 9/11-related illnesses. It came at the close of the reading of the names.&nbsp;

A rose is placed at the memorial during the ceremony marking the 25th anniversary. Getty Images.

The ceremony started at 8:30 a.m. on the memorial plaza, where relatives were allowed access from 7 a.m. They read out 2,983 names of people who died either on Sept. 11, 2001, or in the Feb. 26, 1993, bombing of the World Trade Center. The ceremony at the plaza is closed to the public and can be viewed via livestream.
Kathy Hochul, governor of New York; Zohran Mamdani, mayor of New York; and Mikie Sherrill, governor of New Jersey, were there. Along the bronze parapets surrounding the reflecting pools, family members placed flowers next to engraved names.

Susan Rossinow touches the engraved name of her husband, Norman Rossinow, at the 25th anniversary ceremony. Getty Images.

The pools sit in the footprints of the towers. The design, Reflecting Absence, was created by architect Michael Arad and landscape architect Peter Walker and was selected in 2004 out of more than 5,000 entries in an international competition. Nearby is the Survivor Tree, a Callery pear found in the wreckage in October 2001 with broken roots and burned branches. The city's parks department cared for it for nine years before returning it to the plaza in 2010.
The Tribute in Light goes up tonight. Eighty-eight xenon bulbs are arranged into two 48-foot squares matching the footprint and orientation of the towers, assembled on a rooftop near the site and aimed straight up, reaching roughly four miles. The Municipal Art Society first presented the installation in March 2002, six months after the attacks. The beams shine from dusk on Sept. 11 until dawn on Sept. 12, and crews tested them on Sept. 9 and again on Sept. 10, visible from Brooklyn Bridge Park and from the Empty Sky memorial in Jersey City.

The Tribute in Light is tested over Lower Manhattan, seen from Brooklyn Bridge Park on Sept. 10, 2026. Getty Images.

The city has been marking the anniversary all week. On Sept. 6, a ceremony took place at the corner of West 31st Street and Seventh Avenue, where Father Mychal Judge—the FDNY chaplain who died while assisting firefighters at the World Trade Center—was remembered. On Thursday evening, a candlelight vigil was held at the Brooklyn Wall of Remembrance in Maimonides Park, Coney Island, dedicated to the first responders who died that day.
In Bryant Park, 2,753 empty chairs covered the lawn, one for each person killed at the World Trade Center. The figure is smaller than the 2,983 names read downtown, which also accounts for the Pentagon, Flight 93, and the 1993 bombing. Every chair faced south, toward the site.
The installation, by artist Sheryl Oring, was open from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. and presented by Bryant Park with Bank of America, which donated $25 for each of the first 3,000 carnations placed by visitors. People walked the rows, left flowers on the seats, and wrote notes. The American Symphony Orchestra follows tonight with a free concert, New York Resounds, conducted by Leon Botstein.

An empty chair holds a flower and a note at Bryant Park, where 2,753 chairs were displayed on Sept. 11, 2026. Getty Images.

Today, the Perelman Performing Arts Center at 251 Fulton Street was open for families from 11 a.m. At 3:30 p.m., the New York Philharmonic, headed by incoming Tang music and artistic director Gustavo Dudamel, will perform with the U.S. Army Field Band Soldiers' Chorus, directed by Captain Jac'kel Smalls.
Below are more scenes of New York on the 25th anniversary of Sept. 11.

New York Governor Kathy Hochul, Bill Hochul, New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani, and New Jersey Governor Mikie Sherrill at the 25th anniversary ceremony. Getty Images.

See How New York is Remembering September 11, 25 Years Later

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