Fragment of the Pentagon facade
Description: This piece of scorched limestone facade was recovered from the wreckage of the Pentagon. Context: The Pentagon, completed in 1943 under the urgencies of World War II, was built to provide a central headquarters for an expanded U.S. military. On September 11, hijackers crashed an American Airlines Boeing 757 airliner into a portion of the Pentagon that had been reinforced recently as part of a building renovation and counterterrorism effort. The plane crashed just outside the building and slid nearly halfway through it. It totally destroyed a section of the first two floors of the five-story building. The heavily damaged upper floors initially held but, with an intense fire raging, soon collapsed.
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Back side of limestone fragment
The "X" on the back side of this fragment of limestone facade from the Pentagon indicates that it was not suitable for reinstallation on the building.
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Collapsed portion of the Pentagon
Only a few of the original Pentagon limestone blocks were unharmed and available for reuse.
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Curator's field notes
This is an excerpt from field notes written by NMAH's curator of engineering, Jeffrey Stine, on 7 January 2002, describing his tour of the Pentagon reconstruction site three days earlier. These field notes convey information obtained through discussions [...] |
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Pentagon facade in museum storage
Curator William Yeingst examines the fragment of the Pentagon facade.
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