The Statue of Liberty is a large statue in New York Harbor.
The Statue of Liberty is a large statue in New York Harbor.
The Statue of Liberty (which is officially named Liberty Enlightening the World) is on Liberty Island in New York Harbor. Together with Ellis Island, it makes up Statue of Liberty National Monument. It was dedicated in 1886.
It is a copper statue, designed by Frederic Auguste Bartholdi, a French sculptor, and was built by Gustave Eiffel (designer of the Eiffel Tower in Paris). It was a gift to the United States from the people of France. The height of the copper statue 151ft/46m, and from the foundation of the pedestal to the tip of torch 305ft/93m.
The statue is of a robed female figure representing the Roman goddess Libertas. She holds a torch and a tablet carrying the date of the American Declaration of Independence, July 4, 1776. A broken chain is at her feet, representing the breaking of bonds with the former colonial power, Great Britain.
Its particular importance is that it was the first thing millions of immigrants saw when they approached New York after a long journey from Europe at the end of the 19th and the early years of the 20th centuries.
The statue was made in France, shipped to the U.S. in crates, and assembled on the completed pedestal on what was then called Bedloe's Island.
The inspiration was one of the wonders of the ancient world, the Colossus of Rhodes: a bronze statue of the Greek god of the sun, Helios 100ft/30m tall, which stood at a harbor entrance and carried a light to guide ships.
The United States already used one symbol for liberty, that of goddess Columbia. This was the American version of the goddess Britannia, that was used by Great Britain. Liberty is a version of this symbol.
Bartholdi had planned to put floodlights on the torch's balcony to illuminate it; a week before the dedication, the Army Corps of Engineers vetoed the proposal, fearing that ships' pilots passing the statue would be blinded. Instead, Bartholdi cut portholes in the torch – which was covered with gold leaf – and placed the lights inside them.
There was a celebration and parade in New York on the day the statue was dedicated, and as the parade passed the New York Stock Exchange, traders threw ticker tape from the windows, beginning the New York tradition of the ticker-tape parade.
Originally, the statue was a dull copper colour but shortly after 1900, a green patina formed as the copper weathered naturally. That is what you see today.
