WATCH ABOVE: Visitors to One World Trade Center next month will experience an incredible timelapse video inside the elevator cabs as they travel to the 102nd floor observatory.
TORONTO — An impressive animated timelapse lets you see the New York City skyline grow before your eyes from the 1500s — when the tip of the Manhattan Island was still marsh — to what it is today. The 515 years of development is condensed into a 52-second elevator ride.
The video was created for the five special elevators that will service the new One World Trade Center’s observatory when it opens on May 29.
The piece was produced by California’s Hettema Group and Blur Studio, who didn’t shy away from addressing the events of 9/11 and their impact on the city’s skyline. Four seconds of the former World Trade Center towers can be seen in the piece, an eerie reminder of where the towers used to stand.
“The event is certainly a key part of history,” David W. Checketts told the New York Times, which first published the video, on behalf of the company chosen to operate the three-level observatory.
“We did not think you could ignore it. Having it appear in the year it did and disappear in the year it did was the respectful way of addressing the fact that it was part of the landscape.”
WATCH: Timelapse of One World Trade Center construction from October 2004 to September 2013
The building is the tallest in the western hemisphere; its observatory will offer “expansive, 360-degree views in all directions,” allowing visitors to take in “the iconic sights, surrounding waters and panoramic views of the city and beyond.”
The cost of admission will be $32.
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