Statue of Liberty - New York

The Statue of Liberty is one of the most significant and well-known landmarks of the United States. Officially named Liberty Enlightening the World, the statue represents the centennial of the signing of the United States Declaration of Independence.

It’s a statue of a woman wearing a stola, a radiant crown and sandals, trampling a broken chain. Her right hand, holding a torch is raised high while her left hand carrying a tabula ansata table written on it the date of the Declaation of Independence.

The statue is a central figure in the Statue of Liberty National Monument, managing by the National Park Service.

The idea of the statue to be given as a gift to the United States to celebrate the Centennial of the American Declaration of Independence belonged to the politician and sympathetic writer of the history of the United States, Édouard René de Laboulave.

Participation in fundraising for the establishment of the statue took both French and American people. With this purpose, in France were organized public donations, a number of entertainments, among which the great performances of La liberté éclairant le monde (Liberty enlightening the world) by composer Charles Gounod at Paris Opera as well as 2,250,000 francs (250,000$) were collected by a charitable lottery. In the United States, the required funds were provided through art exhibitions, benefit theatrical events, auctions and prize fights.

The construction of the Statue of Liberty was entrusted to the French sculptor Frédéric Bartholdi. The creation of the iron pylon and the secondary skeletal framework on the statue were assigned to the designer Gustave Eiffel who also used the help of structural engineer Maurice Koechlin in implementation of the detailed work.

The statue building process was finished in France in July 1884. Because of lack of money the pedestal of the tower was not completed at that time. The following year, aboard the French frigate Isère , the statue was transported to the United States. On April 22, 1886 the pedestal was finally constructed and on October 28 the Statue of Liberty was officially unveiled by President Grover Cleveland in front of thousands of spectators.

The whole statue is made of pure copper, standing at a height of 93 metres.

Address:
Statue of Liberty
Liberty Island
New York City
NY 10004
United States

Tel: +1 212 363 3200