The towering twin steel beams were once part of the facade of the World Trade Center's south tower, sheathed in smooth aluminum. Salvaged from ground zero after the 9/11 attacks, the tridents are being resurrected and will greet visitors as they enter the pavilion of the 9/11 Memorial Museum. The remnant steel became known as tridents because the beams are crowned with three prongs.

The tridents will be moved to the World Trade Center site from storage at a Queens airport hangar, where tons and tons of remnant steel has remained since the Sept. 11 destruction at WTC.  The tridents are planned to be returned to the WTC site this fall and will be installed while work on the pavilion continues. Each is about 70-feet tall and weighs 52 tons.

Read more about the tridents in the New York Daily News.

"I feel this way about it. World trade means world peace and consequently the World Trade Center buildings in New York ... had a bigger purpose than just to provide room for tenants. The World Trade Center is a living symbol of man's dedication to world peace," Minoru Yamasaki, chief architect of the World Trade Center, once stated.

Pictures:Welders work on the so-called tridents that will stand in the 9/11 Memorial Museum's entry pavilion. (Photos by Lynn Rasic)

By Michael Frazier, Sr. Communications Manager for the 9/11 Memorial

Snøhetta, the architecture firm that designed the 9/11 Memorial Museum pavilion, has been picked by the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art to design a new wing, which is scheduled to open in 2016. The $250 million expansion is likely to be the city's largest private project, according to a report by the San Francisco Chronicle.

The pavilion designed for the memorial museum will house an auditorium for public programming, space for contemplation, a counter for refreshments and a private suite reserved for victims' family members.  Two of the original steel tridents from the fallen World Trade Center's towers will be placed inside the pavilion and will be visible through the grand glass atrium.

Snøhetta, which has offices in Oslo and New York, was selected after a five-month search, rising to the top after 35 possible architects were whittled to four finalist, the report said.

By Michael Frazier,  Sr. Communications Manager for the 9/11 Memorial