Visitors will be able to travel through time when One World Trade Center opens next month. Those taking the elevator to the observation deck will watch an incredible time lapse video of the growth of Lower Manhattan from the 1500s to the present day as they ascend to the top. The video, shared by The New York Times on Monday, will play during the 47 seconds it will take visitors to reach the 102nd floor observatory. At the start of the ascent, the film shows the city as an expanse of wild vegetation and marshes before it was settled by the Dutch in the 1600s. Houses, churches, markets and bustling ports begin cropping up across Lower Manhattan as the Europeans make the city their home before high-rise buildings start jutting into the sky throughout the 1800s. The Brooklyn Bridge can also be seen stretching across the East River to Brooklyn. But it's throughout the 20th century when the skyline begins to change most dramatically, with scores of skyscrapers emerging, including the Woolworth Building and the Singer Building. From the end of the 1960s, the facade of the doomed south tower of the former trade center begins to appear on the screen - before it vanishes less than four seconds later. David W. Checketts, the chairman of Legends Hospitality, the company operating the three-level observatory, said including the tower and a reference to the tragedy on 9/11 seemed necessary. 'The event is certainly a key part of history,' he told the Times. 'We did not think you could ignore it. View: An image shows how the 102nd floor observatory will look when it opens to the public next month . As visitors travel up One World Trade Center, pictured last week, they will see an incredible time lapse video of the growth of the city between the 1500s and the present day, including the construction of the towers . '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.' The final part of the ascent shows scaffolding around the elevator, signifying the developing new building, before the journey ends and visitors step off into the newly-finished observatory. The  panoramic images are displayed on three high-definition monitors on the sides of the elevators, and on the way down, visitors will watch a different film. On the video played during the descent, the elevator cab appears to leave the tower and sail around it before re-entering through windows that ultimately slide apart, the Times reported. The observatory opens on May 29. Tickets went on sale last week.
Elevators at the World Trade Center will show visitors the growth of Lower Manhattan as they travel to the observatory when it opens next month.
It will take visitors just 47 seconds to reach the 102nd floor observatory.