Lady Liberty’s first home was a Parisian neighborhood.
Interesting facts about the Statue of Liberty:
• The Statue of Liberty was a gift from France to the United States, as a symbol of friendship.
• Lady Liberty was sculpted by artist Frédéric Auguste Bartholdi.
• The statue was originally called Liberty Enlightening the World.
• Alexandre Gustave Eiffel served as the structural engineer.
• Construction on the statue began in 1875, in Paris, and was completed in 1884.
• The statue arrived (disassembled) in New York Harbor in June of 1885
• The Statue of Liberty was dedicated by President Grover Cleveland on October 28, 1886.
• The height of the statue, from the base of the pedestal foundation to the tip of the torch, is 305 feet, 6 inches.
• The thickness of the exterior copper covering is 3/32 of an inch (slightly less than the thickness of two pennies).
• There are seven rays on her crown; they represent the seven continents.
• It took almost 30 years for the Statue of Liberty to change from copper brown to its now iconic greenish-blue patina.
• One symbolic feature that people cannot see (due to the height of the pedestal ) is the statue’s feet surrounded with broken shackles, it symbolizes Lady Liberty’s freedom from oppression and control.
Facts via: The Statue of Liberty-Ellis Island Foundation and National Geographic
Via: Albert Fernique / New York Public Library
Construction of the skeleton and plaster surface of the left arm and hand of the Statue of Liberty
Via: Albert Fernique / New York Public Library
Men at work on the construction of the Statue of Liberty.
Via: Albert Fernique / New York Public Library
Workers hammering sheets of copper used for the exterior covering.
Via: Albert Fernique / New York Public Library
