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Located in New York Harbor, the Statue of Liberty is one of the most recognized landmarks in the world.

But what is it doing there? And where did it come from?

 
The American people agreed to pay for the pedestal for the statue to stand on, while the French people would fund the Statue of Liberty itself. But raising enough money was difficult.

Officially called Liberty Enlightening the World, the Statue of Liberty was a gift to America from the French in 1886 as a representation of international friendship. But its story really began more than twenty (20) years earlier in 1865 when Frenchman Edourd de Laboulaye proposed that France should create a monument for the United States.

It would be a long time before Laboulaye’s dream was realized: it wasn’t until ten years later that the sculptor Auguste Bartholdi was commissioned to design the statue.

 
The statue was completed in France in 1884, almost ten years after it was commissioned — but the pedestal wasn’t finished for another two years, in April of 1886.

The statue was transported in three-hundred-and-fifty (350) individual pieces which were packed in two-hundred-and-twenty-four (224) separate crates.

Once the pedestal was completed, it took four months to reassemble the statue.

 
Finally, on October twenty-eight (28), 1886, President Grover Cleveland dedicated the Statue of Liberty, an event celebrated by bands, parades, speeches, and fireworks.

The Statue of Liberty quickly became a famous landmark. For many immigrants who came to the United States through New York, it was their first sight of their new country.

For others, it symbolized the idea of freedom that America was built on.

 
The statue depicts a woman in a robe, representing Libertas, the Roman goddess of liberty. She has a crown on her head with seven points, said to represent the seven seas or the seven continents of the earth.

She is holding a stone tablet in one hand which reads July 4, 1776 in roman numerals, honoring the date of the signing of the Declaration of Independence.

In her other hand, she holds high a flaming torch covered in gold leaf.

The Statue of Liberty itself is covered in a layer of copper less than two pennies thick.

Originally, the statue was the same bright copper color as a new penny, but after less than twenty years of standing in the sun and the rain, the copper began to oxidize, turning her into the green color we recognize today.

The statue weighs four-hundred and fifty thousand (450,000) pounds or two-hundred-twenty-five tones (225) and stands over one-hundred-fifty-one (151) feet or forty-six (46) meters high, not including the pedestal she stands on.

With the pedestal, from the ground to the tip of the torch, the Statue of Liberty stands as tall as a twenty-two (22) story building!

 
About four million people visit the Statue of Liberty every year. Those who go inside it can see a poem by Emma Lazarus, written to help raise money for the construction of the pedestal.

It reads, in part:

“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-tost to me,
I lift my lamp beside the golden door!”

 
Now, nearly one-hundred and thirty (130) years later, the Statue of Liberty has long been a symbol of of hope and welcome to people seeking freedom and a new life in America, as well as a symbol of the friendship between France and the United States.

It is now a World Heritage Site, which means that it is considered to special and important that it should be protected and preserved for people all around the world to enjoy.

Questions

 
The Statue of Liberty. The Statue of Liberty stands in the center of Washington, D.C. the capital of the United States. True or false? Is “The Statue of Liberty” the official name of the statue?

The Eiffel Tower. Was the Statue of Liberty conceived, designed, built and constructed (entirely) by Americans? Did the US Government pay for the (entire) construction of the Statue of Liberty?

Christ the Redeemer. What does the presenter say about immigrants to the United States at the turn of the last century?

The Great Wall. The Statue of Liberty depicts George Washington in his army command uniform. Is this right or wrong? Do the spikes on the statue’s head represent Seven American Virtues?

The Pyramids of Giza. What happened on the 28th of October, 1886? Did the color of Statue of Liberty change?

The Pyramid of the Sun. Is the Statue of Liberty a major tourist attraction? Does the inscription on the Statue of Liberty extol opportunity, success, wealth and prosperity?

Machu Picchu. The Statue of Liberty symbolizes strength, wealth, power and glory. Is this correct or incorrect?
 
 
 
Angkor Wat. My friends and I have visited the Statue of Liberty. Yes or no?

Hagia Sofia. Have you visited or seen various statues? Who are they? Why do they have statues?

Buckingham Palace. What do you think of statues of “controversial” figures, such as Confederate General Robert E. Lee, Gen. Stonewall Jackson and Confederate President Jefferson Davis?

Saint Basil’s Cathedral. Should ancient statues be reconstructed, for example, those of Zeus, Artemis, Helios (the Colossus of Rhodes)?

Neuschwanstein Castle. What might happen in the future?