The Statue of Liberty
Statue of Liberty, in New York City, is one of the most famous landmarks of the United States of America. It is the majestic copper sculpture that towers above Liberty Island at the entrance to New York Harbor. This famous figure of a robed woman holding a torch is one of the largest statues ever built. The statue's complete name is Liberty Enlightening the World.
The Statue of Liberty was given to the people of the United States by the people of France in 1884. This gift was an expression of friendship and of the ideal of liberty shared by both peoples. French citizens donated the money to build the statue, and people in the United States raised the funds to construct the pedestal (base). The French sculptor Frederic Auguste Bartholdi designed the statue and chose its site.
The Statue of Liberty is a major tourist attraction for people from all over the world. Each year, about 2 million people visit the Statue of Liberty. The Statue of Liberty and the former immigration station at Ellis Island make up the Statue of Liberty National Monument, which is administered by the U.S. National Park Service. Major repairs and improvements of the statue were completed in 1986--the hundredth anniversary of the dedication of the Statue of Liberty in the United States.
The statue as a symbol
The Statue of Liberty has become a symbol of the United States and an expression of freedom to people all over the world. The statue shows liberty as a proud woman draped in the graceful folds of a loose robe. In her uplifted right hand, she holds a glowing torch. She wears a crown with seven spikes that stand for the light of liberty shining on the seven seas and seven continents. With her left arm, she cradles a tablet bearing the date of the American Declaration of Independence (July 4, 1776) in roman numerals. A chain that represents tyranny (unjust rule) lies broken at her feet.
Millions of immigrants passed the Statue of Liberty as they entered the United States. For them, the statue was a strong, welcoming figure holding out the promise of freedom and opportunity.
Description
The Statue of Liberty stands on Liberty Island, a 5-hectare island in Upper New York Bay. The island lies about 2.5 kilometres southwest of the tip of Manhattan Island. The statue's pedestal rises from within the walls of a star-shaped fort built on the island from 1806 to 1811 to defend New York against naval attack. Liberty Island received its present name in 1956. Before that, it was called Bedloe's Island, after Isaac Bedloe, who owned the island in the 1600's.
The pedestal is an enormous mass of concrete reinforced with steel beams and covered with granite. It was designed by Richard Morris Hunt, a United States architect famous for designing magnificent mansions. The pedestal, including its foundation within the walls of the fort, stands about 47 metres tall. When the pedestal was completed in 1886, its foundation was the largest single concrete structure in the world. Stairs and a passenger lift run up through the interior of the pedestal. Partway up the pedestal is a row of pillars called a colonnade. A balcony extends around the top of the pedestal.
The statue stands just over 46 metres high from its feet to the top of the torch. It weighs 204 metric tons. The figure is made of 300 sheets of copper fastened together with rivets (threadless bolts). This copper skin is only 2.4 millimetres thick. The statue is one of the most celebrated examples of repousse work, a process of shaping metal by hammering it into a mould.
The structural framework that supports the copper covering was designed by Alexandre Gustave Eiffel, the French engineer who later designed the famous Eiffel Tower in Paris. His support system for the Statue of Liberty consists of a central tower of four vertical iron columns connected by horizontal and diagonal crossbeams. Iron girders leading up and out from the tower support the raised right arm.
Eiffel's strong but flexible design allows the copper skin to react to wind and temperature changes without placing great stress on the statue's framework. Iron bars extend from the central tower to stainless steel "ribs" that follow the shape of the statue's inner surface. These ribs are not rigidly attached to the copper skin. Instead, they fit into special copper brackets connected to the inside of the skin. This indirect method of attaching the copper skin to the ribs enables the statue to absorb the force of the strong winds that often blow across the bay. The attachment method also allows the copper skin to expand and contract as the temperature rises and falls.
Two parallel, spiral stairways with 142 steps wind up through the interior of the statue to the crown on the statue's head. An emergency and maintenance lift runs from the base to the statue's shoulder. The crown houses a viewing platform with 25 windows. This observation area holds about 20 people.
The torch towers almost 93 metres above the base of the pedestal. At night, its gold-covered flame glows with refected light from 16 powerful lamps arranged around the rim of the torch. The rest of the statue is lit by lamps shining up from below.
Visiting the Statue of Liberty
Visitors reach the statue by ferry from Battery Park at the southern tip of New York's Manhattan Island. They may climb the 189 stairs to the top of the pedestal, or take the lift. To reach the observation area in the crown, visitors must climb the 142 stairs inside the statue. Visitors are not allowed to climb to the torch.
History
Inspiration and preparations. The idea for the Statue of Liberty came from Edouard-Rene Lefebvre de Laboulaye, a French politician and historian. Laboulaye greatly admired the United States. In 1865, he proposed the construction of a joint French-American monument celebrating the ideal of liberty.
In 1871, Frederic Auguste Bartholdi, Laboulaye's friend and a noted French sculptor, sailed to the United States to seek support for the project. During his trip, Bartholdi selected Bedloe's Island, in Upper New York Bay, as the site for the monument.
Upon returning to France, Bartholdi began designing the statue. He planned a colossal sculpture that would be the largest built since ancient times. Bartholdi modelled the figure's face on the face of his mother.
In 1875, the French-American Union was established to raise funds and oversee the project. The organization raised funds in both France and the United States. In 1881, U.S. architect Richard Morris Hunt was selected to design the pedestal.
Construction and dedication. Construction of the statue began in 1875 in a workshop in Paris. First, Bartholdi built a small clay model of the figure. Then three plaster models were built, each larger than the previous one. For the final version, workers made a strong wooden framework for each major section of the statue. A layer of plaster was then applied over this wooden framework, forming a full-scale model for each major part of the figure.
Next, carpenters built large wooden forms that followed the shape of the plaster model of the statue. Metalworkers then placed thin sheets of copper in the wooden forms. They bent the copper sheets and hammered them into the shape of the forms. When the hammered copper sheets were removed from the forms, they matched the shape of the plaster model from which the wooden forms had been made.
Designing a framework to support the statue presented a difficult engineering challenge. French engineer Alexandre Gustave Eiffel designed a support system with a central iron tower. The copper skin would be connected to the central tower by a strong but flexible framework of iron bars. Eiffel's support system was erected outside the Paris workshop where the statue was being made. Then the sections of copper skin were attached to the framework.
Bartholdi had hoped to present the statue to the United States on July 4, 1876--the centennial of the Declaration of Independence. But he had completed only the right hand and torch by 1876. The people of France officially presented the completed statue to the U.S. minister to France in Paris on July 4, 1884.
Construction of the pedestal began in 1884 but soon came to a halt because of a lack of funds. After a newspaper campaign to raise funds, the pedestal was finally completed in April 1886.
Meanwhile, the statue had been disassembled in Paris and packed in 214 wooden crates for shipment to the United States. The French ship Isere carried the statue across the Atlantic and landed in the United States on June 17, 1885. Assembly of the statue began soon after the pedestal was completed. On Oct. 28, 1886, Liberty Enlightening the World was officially dedicated in New York City.
Repairs and changes. Bartholdi had intended the Statue of Liberty to serve as a lighthouse, with paraffin lamps burning in the crown. Before the statue was dedicated, however, officials decided to light the torch instead. They had electric lights installed that shone through two rows of windows cut in the flame. But the light from the torch was too dim to serve as an effective beacon.
In 1916, floodlights were installed at the base of the statue and the torch lighting system was changed. Hundreds of windows were cut in the copper flame of the torch. Panes of glass were placed in these windows, and the torch was lit by powerful lamps inside the statue's flame.
In 1924, the Statue of Liberty became a U.S. national monument. The U.S. National Park Service took over responsibility for maintaining the statue in 1933.
By the 1980's, the statue required major repairs. The old torch was replaced with one that duplicated Bartholdi's original design. The new torch has no windows. Its flame is covered with gold leaf and glows with reflected light. The statue's right arm, attached incorrectly by workers in 1886, was strengthened at the shoulder. The observation platform at the crown level was replaced. So too were many iron ribs linking the skin to the frame. The new ribs were made of stainless steel. The statue was cleaned, but the familiar greenish colour of the exposed copper was preserved. New lifts and a new lighting system were installed, and the ventilation system was improved. The restoration work was completed in 1986.
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