| In
1865, self-appointed Emperor of France, Napoleon III was trying to conquer
the world. Edouard Rene Lefebvre de Laboulaye, legal scholar and authority
on America, was entertaining friends and discussing the miracle of
America: the working trade-off between individual freedom and governmental
stability, the shedding of the yoke of slavery and the rapid ascension to
a world industrial power. France had been a close partner of America from
the days of Revolutionary War and he suggested that the French give the
Americans a monument that would both keep alive the republican ideal in
France and strengthen friendship between two peoples who shared this
ideal.
Auguste Bartholdi
Bartholdi, a French academic sculptor, was given the assignment to design
and build such a statue. In 1871, he traveled to America in to propose the
monument to the Americans and to choose a site for the statue. When he saw
New York harbor, the Colossus of Rhodes came to his mind. He then decided
that his statue, too, would be an overpowering guardian of the harbor. It
was agreed that the project should be a 50% French and 50% American
effort: the French would provide the statue and the Americans would
provide the pedestal.
Fund-raising efforts
began in the United States in 1877 for the pedestal which was to be
designed by Richard M. Hunt, a young, talented architect. Meanwhile,
Bartholdi began work on his statue. By 1884, the statue, fabricated from
thin, hammered copper sheets (attached to an iron frame designed by
Alexandre Gustave Eifel, designed of the Eifel Tower) was completed and
exhibited on a street in Paris. (No existing studio was large enough to
contain it.) It stayed there for another year due to the delay in the
United States in raising the funds for the pedestal. This fund raising
effort was saved by Joseph Pulitzer, a Hungarian immigrant, publisher of
the New York World. |
By
1885, the fund raising effort in America was a success, the statue was
dismantled, packed in crates and shipped to the United States. The Statue
assembled and mounted on completed pedestal on federally owned Bedloe's
Island in New York Harbor and, in 1986, dedicated by President Grover
Cleveland in the presence of representatives of France. It was ten years
after the American Centennial, the original target date.
In 1924, by Act of
Congress, the Statue of Liberty officially became a National Monument. Ten
years later some structural repairs and partial restoration of the Statue
were made and the Lady of Liberty stood tall and ,magnificent in New York
in greeting the millions of immigrants entering the harbor to make new
lives in this haven of the free.
In 1986, funded
through $87 Million in private donations, a thorough restoration of Statue
completed . (The original cost of the Statue was about $250 thousand and
the pedestal about $280.) This restoration included replacement of the
corroded iron ribs with stainless steel, reattachment of the arm (it had
been incorrectly attached, originally) and conversion of the flame in the
torch to a gold-plated copper flame which is now lit by reflection.
There is no charge to
visit the Statue of Liberty, but access to the island is by
Circle Line
Ferry. Phone 1-866-STATUE4 or 1-866-9CLINE1 for schedules and other
information. (Park rangers guide regular, 45-minute tours. Please note
that back packs, coolers and other packages are not allowed and
all visitors are subject to search due to the terrorist threat.)
web sites we
recommend:
www.nps.gov/stli/ |
