Liberty Enlightening the World

As you may know, I recently got back from a visit to New York (and am consequently extremely tired). Whilst there, I visited the Statue of Liberty, or "Liberty Enlightening the World" ("La Liberté éclairant le monde"), which was a gift given to the USA from France in 1886. I didn't know this until a few weeks before going to NYC but Alexandre Gustave Eiffel (most famous for designing the Eiffel Tower in around 1889) actually also designed the framework of the Statue of Liberty. 

So, in case you didn't already know, this photo (minus the random woman in the corner) is the Statue of Liberty. I don't know why you wouldn't know what it looks like- it's one of the most famous icons in the world- not to mention the most famous statue. 


Nowadays, we mostly associate the Statue of Liberty with immigration; it was the first thing that immigrants would see as they were coming into Manhattan by boat. When we visited Liberty Island, I got an audiotour, which included accounts of people who had actually immigrated to the USA in the 20th century. One man was even reduced to tears by the memory of his first sighting of the statue, as it symbolised the start of his and his family's new life in America. 


However, when France gave the statue to the USA, it was actually to mark the 100th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence on the 4th July 1776 (a date that is written on the tablet that Liberty is holding). As I learnt by listening to the audiotour, the statue was thought of by the sculptor Frédéric Bartholdi during the repressive and unpopular regime of Napoleon III. One of the reasons for giving the statue to America was to show that the French believed in the same values that the Americans believed in. Of course, it was also a symbol of the friendship between the two countries. 


Bartholdi's idea for the statue was inspired by something that Édouard René de Laboulaye (if you've seen National Treasure 2 this name may sound familiar), a law professor and politician. He said: 

"If a monument should rise in the United States, as a memorial to their independence, I should think it only natural if it were built by united effort—a common work of both our nations."

The figure for the statue was based on Liberty, a representation of Libertas, the Roman goddess of freedom. Liberty was a figure which was important to both the USA and France- she could be found on American coins at the time, and is also seen in the painting Liberty Leading the People by Eugène Delacroix (although Bartholdi wanted his Liberty to be fully clothed). 


The statue is made of very thin copper- 2.4mm thick, which is very surprising, and I certainly didn't know this before I visited it. The interior of the statue was originally going to be made of brick, and was designed by Eugène Viollet-le-Duc, a former teacher of Bartholdi, however, he died before most of the statue and any of the interior brickwork had been made. This is how Eiffel became involved in the statue. He designed a metal framework similar to the one he later used for his tower. In order to fit the copper sheets to this frame, all the pieces had to be exactly the right shape and size, so they had to make probably thousands of measurements. Once constructed, the the statue was taken down, transported to America, where it reassembled. 


There was a ceremony in which the statue was unveiled on the 28th October 1886. The celebration began with a huge parade which made its way down from Madison Square to Battery Park, at which point a nautical parade began. Despite the huge popularity of this ceremony, however, not everyone supported it. Women were banned from watching the unveiling from boats, which many were upset about as the statue was supposed to be supporting liberty and free will. Many suffragettes, who protested by sailing as close to the island as they could anyway. 


Hope you enjoyed this post. To finish with, here is a picture of me as the Statue of Liberty:

Big love, 

Caitlin