Statue of Liberty National Monument

Conceived as the embodiment of political freedom and as a gift of international friendship, "Liberty Enlightening the World" has become a universal beacon for people still in search of freedom and opportunity.

Visiting the Statue
The Statue of Liberty National Monument is one of the abiding images of America. It is also one of our most heavily visited monuments; careful planning will make your trip more enjoyable. The Circle Line-Statue of Liberty Ferry provides transportation to Liberty Island from Battery Park in New York and Liberty State Park in New.

While a visit to the crown can often mean a 2-to 3-hour wait in line and requires a 22-story climb, other activities are more readily available to the visitor. A museum in the pedestal includes exhibits on immigration that recall through words, objects, and photographs the arrival of millions of new Americans. An exhibit on the statue explains how the monument was conceived and constructed. For those seeking views of New York Harbor, the most spectacular can be had from the promenade, colonnade, and top levels of the pedestal. There is no admission fee, but donations are gratefully accepted.

Liberty Restored
Although the statue has proved remarkably durable, the years were beginning to tell as Liberty neared her 100th birthday. She was therefore completely refurbished for her Centennial celebration in 1986. For two years, a team of French and American craftsmen worked in and around the statue, repairing popped rivets and replacing the corroded iron ribs with stainless steel. They strengthened the arm, incorrectly installed in 1886. French metal crafters replaced the old flame, lit from inside, with a gold-plated copper flame lit by reflection, in keeping with the sculptor's original conception.

A Gift of Friendship--History

The colossal figure of a woman striding with up-lifted flame across the entrance to the New World is a symbol of America to most people, but she was conceived as an expression of French republican ideals. The idea for such a monument was first discussed in 1865 at the Paris home of Edouard Rene Lefebvre de Laboulaye, legal scholar and authority on America. Republicans like Laboulaye chafed under the repressive regime of Napoleon Ill and looked with admiration to America, a thriving republic which had just survived a civil war and was becoming a prosperous industrial nation. America had achieved a delicate balance between liberty and stability that for so long had eluded France.

Laboulaye envisioned a monument that would keep alive the republican ideal in France and strengthen friendship between two peoples who shared that ideal. Aware of how potent a symbol the human embodiment of liberty could be, as in the painting by Eugene Delacroix of Liberty Leading the People, Laboulaye discussed his idea with one of his dinner guests, sculptor Auguste Bartholdi Bartholdi traveled to America in 1871 to propose the monument and choose a site.

An Idea Given Form

The monument would be a sincere gift to America, but Laboulaye was also making a virtue of necessity. He knew that a strong symbol of liberty was too inflammatory to be tolerated by the emperor within the boundaries of France. Bartholdi saw that New York Harbor, as a major entry point to America. had the right symbolic value.

While Bartholdi was in America, events in France helped to make the statue a reality. After Napoleon Ill was dethroned following the defeat of France by Prussia in 1871. monarchists and republicans contended for the nation's soul. Laboulaye and other republicans saw the statue as the best way to establish the idea of a republican France.

The plan to build the statue was announced in late 1874. Even then, liberty was precarious and the republicans knew the concept would have to be burned into the national consciousness with a powerful image. Bartholdi, the man given the task, was an academic sculptor driven by two obsessions. liberty and immensity. Inspired by ancient colossi. especially in Egypt. He wanted his Statue of Liberty to be overpowering. He also had in mind the Colossus of Rhodes when he envisioned the monument at the entrance to a harbor.

After creating Liberty in a 1.25-meter clay model. Bartholdi began fabricating the statue in 1875. He enlarged the model in plaster several times until he had 300 full-sized sections. The skin of the statue was formed by the repousse process. in which copper sheets 2.5 mm thick were hammered into shape against wooden forms matching the contours of the plaster sections. The engineering problems were solved brilliantly by Gustave Eiffel, already known for his daring bridge designs. A huge central wrought-iron pylon supported a secondary framework to which the statue's skin was attached with flexible iron bars. The skin thus"floated" on the pylon, strong enough to withstand high winds. yet resilient enough to expand and contract with changes in temperature. After its completion in June 1884, the statue stood in Paris until it was dismantled and sent to America early in 1885.

The Statue in America

Only one condition was -placed on France's gift to America. The younger nation had to provide the statue's foundation and pedestal. designed by architect Richard M. Hunt. Public appeal for donations began in 1877, and in 1883 work began on the foundation. the largest concrete mass of its time.

The statue was finished by 1884, but donations were not as generous as expected. and the completion of Hunt's pedestal was in jeopardy. Those who could have afforded large contributions objected to the statue on aesthetic grounds, while the ordinary citizen regarded the statue as New York's problem, or a frivolity the rich should underwrite.

Joseph Pulitzer, Hungarian immigrant and publisher of the New York World. took on the job of raising the money. With his paper he blasted the rich for not donating and stressed the symbolic importance of the statue, soliciting donations from the masses. The completed pedestal and statue were dedicated on October 28, 1886.

Liberty Island
New York, NY 10004
(212) 363-7621