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THE STATUE OF LIBERTY

The Statue of Liberty (dedicated on October 28, 1886), in full Liberty Enlightening the World, is a National Memorial statue, given to the United States by the French Third Republic in the late 19th century, that stands at the mouth of the Hudson River in New York Harbor as a welcome to all returning Americans, visitors, and immigrants alike.

The sculptor was Frederic Auguste Bartholdi; Gustave Eiffel (of Eiffel Tower fame) created the armature.

The copper statue of the goddess of Liberty was a gift of France, commemorating the centennial of the United States and as a gesture of friendship between the two nations. The pedestal was constructed by the United States.

The Statue of Liberty is one of the most recognizable icons worldwide and is often used as a symbol that personifies the U.S., much like Uncle Sam. In a more general sense, the Statue of Liberty is used to represent liberty in general and is a favored symbol of libertarians.

DESCRIPTION OF THE STATUE OF LIBERTY

The Statue of Liberty is located on Liberty Island in New York Harbor, about 2000 feet (600 m) from Jersey City, New Jersey and 1-5/8 statute miles (2.6 km) southwest of the southern tip of Manhattan. (The island was officially called "Bedloe's Island" until 1956, but the name "Liberty Island" has been in popular use since the early 1900s.)

The goddess of liberty holds a torch in her right hand and a tablet in her left. The tablet shows the caption "JULY IV MDCCLXXVI", the date of the Declaration of Independence. One of her feet stands on chains. The seven spikes in her crown represent the seven seas or seven continents.

The height from ground to the tip of the torch is 305 feet (93 m); this includes the foundation and the pedestal. The height of the statue itself, from the top of the base to the torch, is 151 feet (46 m).

The statue was built from thin copper plates hammered into wooden forms. The formed plates were then mounted onto a steel skeleton.

The statue is normally open to visitors, who arrive by ferry and can climb stairs into her crown, which provides a broad view of New York Harbor. A museum in the pedestal - accessible by elevator - presents the history of the statue. At one time, the ladder in the right arm holding the torch was also open to the public, but it has for many years been restricted to staff use, for maintaining the lighting equipment in the torch.

The statue and island were closed from September 11, 2001 to August 3, 2004 due to heightened security following the destruction of the World Trade Center. During this period, only the grounds of Liberty Island were open for visitation; the statue, museum, crown, and all outdoor observation decks remained closed.

The Emma Lazarus poem "The New Colossus" was written for the statue, and engraved on a bronze plaque in 1903, 20 years after it was written. The plaque is located on a wall of the museum, which is in the base of the Statue. (It has never been engraved on the monument itself). In its famous culminating lines, Liberty says

"Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me,
I lift my lamp beside the golden door!"

Although Liberty Island is closer to New Jersey than to New York, it has been part of New York since the issuance in 1664 of the colonial charter that created New Jersey. Portions of nearby Ellis Island that were formed by subsequent landfilling are, under a Supreme Court decision, part of New Jersey, but that decision had no effect on Liberty Island. The island is owned by the federal government and is administered by the National Park Service.

HISTORY OF THE STATUE OF LIBERTY

French sculptor Frederic Auguste Bartholdi was commissioned to design a sculpture with the year 1876 in mind for completion, to commemorate the centennial of the American Declaration of Independence. Bartholdi had previously prepared in 1869 a scale model of a giant statue of a lady holding a torch, for the entry of the recently built Suez Canal. The idea for the commemorative gift grew out of the political turmoil which was shaking France at the time.

The French Third Republic was still considered as a "temporary" arrangement by many, who wished a return to monarchism, or to some form of constitutional dictatorship which they had known under Napoleon I of France. The idea of giving a colossal representation of republican virtues to a "sister" republic across the sea served as a focus for the republican cause against other political opponents.

Bartholdi had an authentic American model, it appears: the good-looking, recently widowed Isabella Eugenie Boyer, the wife of Isaac Singer, the sewing-machine industrialist. "She was rid of the uncouth presence of her husband, who had left her with only his most socially desirable attributes: his fortune and... his children. She was, from the beginning of her career in Paris, a well-known figure. As the good-looking French widow of an American industrialist she was called upon to be Bartholdi's model for the Statue of Liberty." (Ruth Brandon, Singer and the Sewing Machine: A Capitalist Romance, p. 211)

It was agreed upon that in a joint effort the American people were to build the pedestal, and the French people were responsible for the Statue and its assembly in the United States. However, lack of funds was a problem on both sides of the Atlantic Ocean. In France, public fees, various forms of entertainment, and a lottery were among the methods used to raise the 2,250,000 francs.

In the United States, benefit theatrical events, art exhibitions, auctions and prize fights assisted in providing needed funds. Meanwhile in France, Bartholdi required the assistance of an engineer to address structural issues associated with designing such a colossal copper sculpture. Gustave Eiffel (designer of the Eiffel Tower) was commissioned to design the massive iron pylon and secondary skeletal framework which allows the Statue's copper skin to move independently yet stand upright. Eiffel delegated the detailed work to his trusted structural engineer, Maurice Koechlin.

Back in America, the site, authorized in New York Harbor by Act of Congress, 1877, was selected by General William Tecumseh Sherman, who settled on Bartholdi's own choice, then known as Bedloe's Island, where there was already an early 19th century star-shaped fortification.

Fundraising for the pedestal, led by William M. Evarts, was going slowly, so Joseph Pulitzer (noted for the Pulitzer Prize) opened up the editorial pages of his newspaper, The World, to support the fund raising effort. Pulitzer used his newspaper to criticize both the rich who had failed to finance the pedestal construction and the middle class who were content to rely upon the wealthy to provide the funds. Pulitzer's campaign of harsh criticism was successful in motivating the people of America to donate.

Financing for the pedestal, designed by American architect Richard Morris Hunt, was completed in August 1885, the cornerstone was laid on August 5, and pedestal construction was finished in April 22, 1886. When the last stone of the pedestal was swung into place the masons reached into their pockets and showered into the mortar a collection of silver coins.

Built into the pedestal's massive masonry are two sets of four iron girders, connected by iron tie beams that are carried up to become part of Eiffel's framework for the statue itself. Thus Liberty is integral with her pedestal.

The Statue was completed in France in July, 1884 and arrived in New York Harbor on June 17, 1885 on board the French frigate Isere. In transit, the Statue was reduced to 350 individual pieces and packed in 214 crates. (The right arm and the torch, which were completed earlier, had been exhibited at the Centennial Exposition in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania in 1876, and thereafter at Madison Square in New York City.)

The Statue was re-assembled on her new pedestal in four months' time. On October 28, 1886, the dedication of the Statue of Liberty by U.S. President Grover Cleveland took place in front of thousands of spectators. She was a centennial gift ten years belated.

In 1916, the Black Tom Explosion caused $100,000 worth of damage to the statue, embedding shrapnel and eventually leading to restricting access of the torch to visitors.

President of the United States Franklin D. Roosevelt rededicated the Statue of Liberty on its 50th anniversary (October 28, 1936). In 1984, the Statue of Liberty was added to the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization's list of World Heritage Sites. It is one of only four surviving man-made sites in the United States to be named as such, the others being Independence Hall, Pueblo de Taos, and the combined site of the University of Virginia and Monticello.

Extensive renovations were performed before the statue's centennial in 1986, including a new gold layer on the torch, which now shines over New York Harbor at night. The Statue of Liberty was reopened to the public on July 5 after this extensive refurbishing.

The centennial extravaganza lasted three days and drew 12 million people, and is said to have been the largest public event in the world as of that date. It was produced by Jeanne Fleming, a internationally renowned celebration producer and artist whose work includes New York's Village Halloween Parade. The guest list was unique. "We invited all the great statues of the world to her birthday party and created giant puppets to represent them," Fleming explains. "Each one arrived accompanied by native music."

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