Special report: Construction starts at World Trade Center site    

    NEW YORK, Sept. 6 (Xinhua) -- Less than a week before the fifth anniversary of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, New York officials and volunteers gathered at Ground Zero on Wednesday for the opening ceremony of the Tribute WTC Visitor Center, the first of its kind at the site.

    The center, built to offer visitors a glimpse into the lives of the people who were killed and the towers that once stood there, opened to private tours for victims' families, survivors and rescue workers of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.

    It is scheduled to open to the public on Sept. 18, officials said.

    "Tribute is the critical word, because for all the horror, for all the loss on Sept. 11, we can never forget the courage with which New Yorkers responded," New York Governor George Pataki said at the ceremony in front of the building at the south edge of the WTC site.

    New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg said the center, which offers guided tours of the site by people directly related to the attacks, such as survivors, local residents and victims' family members, will serve as a memorial space until the official memorial opens in 2009.

    "As we all know, there's a tremendous need to create a sacred place of remembrance, right here, right now, not only for those who lived through the attack, but for millions of visitors from around the world who come to ground zero to pay their respects," he said.

    "Not only will the tribute center allow visitors to experience the tragedy and heroism borne of the attacks on our city, but those experiences will be guided by people who actually lived through them. They'll be telling the stories of the loved ones they lost," he added.

    Lee Ielpi, a founder of the Tribute Center, who lost his firefighter son on Sept. 11, said there was a great need for these personal stories to be told now, and for future generations.

    "A complacency has begun to set in across the country, across the world," he said. "It's been five years, if we let that complacency settle in -- you know history will repeat itself," he said.

    The 557-square meter center consists of five galleries on two levels. Enditem