The Statue of Liberty (dedicated on October 28, 1886)
Statue of Liberty National Monument Location Liberty Island, New York, US Nearest city New York Statue 151 ft (46 m) with the Pedestal 305 ft (93 m) Area 12 acres (4,9 ha) Established Statue dedicated October 28 1886; National Monument established October 15, 1924 Visitors 4 235 595 (includes Ellis Island NM)(in 2005) Governing body National Park Service
It is moving forward - a symbolism of the United State’s wish to be free from oppression and tyranny. The seven spikes on the crown- epitomize the seven seas and seven continents Her Torch signifies enlightenment The tablet in her hand represents knowledge and shows the date of the US Declaration of Independence, in Roman numerals, July IV, MDCCLXVI ( July 4, 1776)
Frederic Bartholdi (1834 – 1904)
The first model, on a small scale, was built in 1870. This first statue is now in Jardin du Luxembourg in Paris. A second model, also on a small scale, was further brought to Maceio, a city in the Northeast of Brasil.
Truth, a French painting by Jules Joseph Lefebvre which is contemporary with the original small-scale model (1870) also depicts a symbolic torch-holding female figure.
Frederic Auguste Bartholdi sculpted the statue and obtained a U.S. patent for its structure. Mourice Korchlin ( chief engineer of Gustave Eiffeli’s company) engineered the internal structure. Eugene Viollet – le – Duc was responsible for the choice of copper in the statue’s construction and adoption of the repousse technique, where the metal is hammered on the reverse side.
Circa 1880 model of the plaster mock-up being realized in the Bartholdi atelier, rue de Chazelles near Parc Monceau
Diorama of the manufacture of Liberty’s copper head in the ateliers of Gaget, Gauthier and Cie
The cornerstone of the pedestal designed by American architect Richard Morris Hunt
The Lighthouse The Statue of Liberty functioned as a lighthouse from 1886 to 1902. The was a lighthouse keeper and the electric light could be seen 24 miles (39 km at sea) As a lighthouse, it is the first to use electricity.
Used as a lighthouse, the original torch fatally disoriented birds
Inspiration for the face One indicated the then-recently widowed Isabella Eugenie Boyer, the wife of Isaac Singer, the sewing-machine industrialist Another source believed that the “stern face” belonged to Baryholdi’s mother, Charlotte Bartholdi (1801-1891), whom he was very close.
Full-size replica of the face of the Statue, seen as part of the exhibit in one of the corridors of the Statue pedestal. Note the retention of the original copper color.
Physical characteristics The Statue stands atop a rectangular stonework pedestal with a foundation in the shape of an irregular eleven-pointed star There are 354 steps inside the statue and its pedestal, with 25 windows Winds of 50 miles per hour cause the Statue to sway 3 inches (7.62 см) and the torch to sway 5 inches (12.7см).This allows the statue to move rather than break in high wind load conditions.
Aerial view Interior view of the statue upwards, now closed to public access
Liberty centennial in 1984 the statue was closed so that a $ 62 million renovation could be performed for the statue’s centennial. A new torch replaced the original in 1986, which was deemed beyond repair because of the extensive 1916 modifications. The Statue of Liberty was reopened to the public on July 5, 1986.
Original torch, replaced in 1986.
After 9/11 2001 On September 11, 2001 Liberty Island closed. The island reopened in December, 2001 The monument reopened on August 3, 2004 In June 2006 reopened the crown and interior of the Statue of Liberty to visitor.
Jumps At 2:45p.m. on February 9,1912, steeplejack Frederick R. Law successfully performed a parachute jump. The first suicide took place on May 13, 1929.Ralph Gleason, crawled out through one of the windows of the crown. On August 23, 2001, French stuntman Thierry Devaux attempt to bungee jump from it. He was not hurt.
Inscription The statue’s head approximates the Roman Sun-god Appolo or the Greek Sun-god Helios. The ancient Colossus of Rhodes (36 m), one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World, was a statue of Helios with a radiate crown. The Colossus is referred to in the 1883 sonnet The New Colossus by Emma Lazarus. Lazarus' poem was later engraved on a bronze plaque and mounted inside the Statue of Liberty in 1903.
Inscription “ The New Colossus” by Emma Lazarus Not like the brazen giant of Greek fame, With conquering limbs astride from land to land; Here at our sea-washed, sunset gates shall stand A mighty woman with a torch, whose flame Is the imprisoned lightning, and her name Mother of Exiles. From her beacon-hand Glows world-wide welcome; her mild eyes command The air-bridged harbor that twin cities frame. "Keep, ancient lands, your storied pomp!" cries she With silent lips. "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-tossed to me, I lift my lamp beside the golden door!“ The bronze plaque in the pedestal.
The French Statue of Liberty on the river Seine in Paris, France. Given to the city in 1889, it faces southwest, downstream along the Seine.
Replicas and derivative works More than 200 replicas were placed nationally as a result There is a sister statue in Paris and several others elsewhere in France, including one in Bartholdi’s home town of Colmar. They also exist in Austria, Germany, Italy, Japan, China, Brazil and Vietnam.
Statue of Liberty replica at Odaiba, overlooking the Rainbow Bridge in Tokyo Bay.
Political cartoon of the First Red Scare depicting a monstrous “European Anarchist” attempting to destroy the statue of Liberty.
The Statue of Liberty is part of the New York State Quarter
The Statue of Liberty is on the reverse of all Presidential $1 coin
in 1984 the statue was added to the list of World Heritage Sires in 2007 the Statue of Liberty was one of 20 finalists in a competition to name the New Seven Wonders of the World.