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Statue of Liberty
Statue of Liberty and Liberty IslandStatue of Liberty National Monument
IUCN Category III (Natural Monument)
Location: Liberty Island, New York, USA
Nearest city: Jersey City, New Jersey
Coordinates: 40°41′21″N, 74°2′40″W
Area: 12 acres (49,000 m²)
Established: October 15 1924
Visitation: 4,235,595 (includes Ellis Island NM) (in 2005)
Governing body: National Park Service
Liberty Enlightening the World, known more commonly as the Statue of
Liberty, is a statue given to the United States by France in 1885,
standing at Liberty Island in the mouth of the Hudson River in New York
Harbor as a welcome to all visitors, immigrants, and returning Americans.
The copper statue, dedicated on October 28 1886, commemorates the
centennial of the United States and is a gesture of friendship between the
two nations. The sculptor was Frederic Auguste Bartholdi. Gustave Eiffel,
the designer of the Eiffel Tower, engineered the internal structure.
Eugène Viollet-le-Duc was responsible for the choice of copper in the
statue's construction and adoption of the Repoussé technique. The Statue
of Liberty is one of the most recognizable icons of the U.S. worldwide,[1]
and, in a more general sense, represents liberty and escape from
oppression. The Statue of Liberty was, from 1886 until the Jet age, often
the first glimpse of the United States for millions of immigrants after
ocean voyages from Europe.
Description
The Statue of Liberty is located in New York Harbor, about 1.6 miles (2.6
km) southwest of the southern tip of Manhattan. The island was officially
called "Bedloe's Island" until it was renamed in 1956, but was popularly
called "Liberty Island" much earlier;[2] O. Henry refers to it by that
name in a 1911 story.[3]
Liberty holds a torch in her right hand and a tablet in her left. The
tablet shows the inscription JULY IV MDCCLXXVI—July 4 1776, the date of
the adoption of the Declaration of Independence.
One of her feet stands on chains, symbolizing the acquired freedom. The
USIA states that the seven spikes in the crown represent the seven seas
and seven continents.[4]
The height from ground to the top of the torch is 305 feet (93 m); this
includes the foundation and the pedestal. The height of the statue itself,
from the top of the base to the torch, is 151 feet (46 m). The statue
weighs 204 tons and the pedestal weighs 24,500 tons.[5][6]
The statue was built from thin copper plates hammered into wooden forms
through a process known as repoussé.[7][8] The formed plates were then
mounted onto a steel skeleton. The pedestal is built from stone and
Rosendale natural cement.
A museum on the second floor of the pedestal, presents the history of the
statue.[9] Inside the statue, a spiral stairway with rest seats at every
third turn winds up to the observation deck in the crown. Before 1916, the
ladder in the right arm holding the torch was open to the public, but it
has for many years been restricted to staff use, for maintaining the
lighting equipment in the torch. The interior of the statue has been
closed to the public since 2001 (see below).
The poem "The New Colossus" by Emma Lazarus was engraved on a bronze
plaque in 1903, after Lazarus' death, and 20 years after it was written.
The plaque is located on a wall of the museum, which is in the base of the
statue. (It has never been engraved on the monument itself, despite such
depictions in editorial cartoons[10]).
In its famous final lines, it says:
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!
Although Liberty Island is closer to New Jersey than to New York, and its
physical location is within the borders of Hudson County, New Jersey,
Liberty Island has been part of New York since the issuance in 1664 of the
colonial charter that created New Jersey (see charter text). Portions of
nearby Ellis Island that were formed by subsequent landfilling are, under
a Supreme Court decision, part of New Jersey, but that decision had no
effect on Liberty Island. The island is owned by the federal government
and is administered by the National Park Service. (For additional details,
see Liberty Island)..
History
Discussions in France over a suitable gift to the United States to mark
the Centennial of the American Declaration of Independence was headed by
the politician and sympathetic writer of the history of the United States,
Édouard René Lefèvre de Laboulaye. French sculptor Frederic Auguste
Bartholdi was commissioned to design a sculpture with the year 1876 in
mind for completion. The statue was to be placed in Port Said and was
designed as "Egypt carrying the light into Asia". The inspiration came
from the giant statues at Abu Simbel. The project would have gone further
if Khedive Ismail, the ruler of Egypt at that time, had not deemed it too
expensive, though the advance payment was already made. The idea for the
commemorative gift then grew out of the political turmoil which was
shaking France at the time. The French Third Republic was still considered
as a "temporary" arrangement by many, who wished a return to Monarchism,
or to some form of constitutional authoritarianism which they had known
under Napoleon. The idea of giving a colossal representation of republican
virtues to a "sister" republic across the sea served as a focus for the
republican cause against political opponents.
Various sources cite different models for the face of the statue. One
indicated the then-recently widowed Isabella Eugenie Boyer, the wife of
Isaac Singer, the sewing-machine industrialist. "She was rid of the
uncouth presence of her husband, who had left her with only his most
socially desirable attributes: his fortune and... his children. She was,
from the beginning of her career in Paris, a well-known figure. As the
good-looking French widow of an American industrialist she was called upon
to be Bartholdi's model for the Statue of Liberty." [11] Another source
believed that the "stern face" belonged to Bartholdi's mother, with whom
he was very close. [12] National Geographic magazine also pointed to his
mother, noting that Bartholdi never denied nor explained the resemblance.
[13] The first model, on a small scale, was built in 1870. This first
statue is now in the Jardin du Luxembourg in Paris.
It was agreed upon that in a joint effort the American people were to
build the base, and the French people were responsible for the Statue and
its assembly in the United States. However, lack of funds was a problem on
both sides of the Atlantic. In France, public fees, various forms of
entertainment, and a lottery were among the methods used to raise the
2,250,000 francs. In the United States, benefit theatrical events, art
exhibitions, auctions and prize fights assisted in providing needed funds.
Meanwhile in France, Bartholdi required the assistance of an engineer to
address structural issues associated with designing such a colossal copper
sculpture. Gustave Eiffel (designer of the Eiffel Tower) was commissioned
to design the massive iron pylon and secondary skeletal framework which
allows the Statue's copper skin to move independently yet stand upright.
Eiffel delegated the detailed work to his trusted structural engineer,
Maurice Koechlin.
On June 30, 1878, at the Paris Exposition, the completed head of the
statue was showcased in the garden of the Trocadéro palace, while other
pieces were on display in the Champs de Mars.
Back in America, the site, authorized in New York Harbor by Act of
Congress, 1877, was selected by General William Tecumseh Sherman, who
settled on Bartholdi's own choice, then known as Bedloe's Island, where
there was already an early 19th century star-shaped fortification.
Bartholdi's design patent
On February 18 1879, Bartholdi was granted a design patent, U.S. Patent
D11023, on "a statue representing Liberty enlightening the world, the same
consisting, essentially, of the draped female figure, with one arm
upraised, bearing a torch, and while the other holds an inscribed tablet,
and having upon the head a diadem, substantially as set forth." The patent
described the head as having "classical, yet severe and calm, features,"
noted that the body is "thrown slightly over to the left so as to
gravitate upon the left leg, the whole figure thus being in equilibrium,"
and covered representations in "any manner known to the glyptic art in the
form of a statue or statuette, or in alto-relievo or bass-relief, in
metal, stone, terra-cotta, plaster-of-paris, or other plastic
composition."[14]
Fundraising for the pedestal, led by William M. Evarts, was going slowly,
so Joseph Pulitzer (who established the Pulitzer Prize) opened up the
editorial pages of his newspaper, The World, to support the fund raising
effort. Pulitzer used his newspaper to criticize both the rich, who had
failed to finance the pedestal construction, and the middle class who were
content to rely upon the wealthy to provide the funds[citation needed].
Pulitzer's campaign of harsh criticism was successful in motivating the
people of America to donate. (It also promoted his newspaper, which
purportedly added ~50,000 subscribers in the course of the statue campaign
effort.)
Financing for the pedestal, designed by American architect Richard Morris
Hunt, was completed in August 1885. The cornerstone was laid on August 5,
and pedestal construction was finished on April 22 1886. When the last
stone of the pedestal was swung into place the masons reached into their
pockets and showered into the mortar a collection of silver coins.
Built into the pedestal's massive masonry are two sets of four iron
girders, connected by iron tie beams that are carried up to become part of
Eiffel's framework for the statue itself. Thus Liberty is integral with
her pedestal.
The Statue was completed in France in July, 1884 and arrived in New York
Harbor on June 17 1885 on board the French frigate Isere. To prepare for
transit, the Statue was reduced to 350 individual pieces and packed in 214
crates. (The right arm and the torch, which were completed earlier, had
been exhibited at the Centennial Exposition in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
in 1876, and thereafter at Madison Square in New York City.) The Statue
was re-assembled on her new pedestal in four months' time. On October 28
1886, the Statue of Liberty was dedicated by President Grover Cleveland in
front of thousands of spectators. (Ironically, it was Cleveland who, as
Governor of the State of New York, had earlier vetoed a bill by the New
York legislature to contribute $50,000 to the building of the pedestal.)
[15] In any event, she was a centennial gift ten years belated.
In 1916, the Black Tom Explosion caused $100,000 worth of damage to the
statue, embedding shrapnel and eventually leading to the closing of the
torch to visitors. The same year, Gutzon Borglum, sculptor of Mount
Rushmore, modified the original copper torch by cutting away most of the
copper in the flame, retrofitting glass panes and installing an internal
light[citation needed]. After these modifications, the torch severely
leaked rainwater and snowmelt, accelerating corrosion inside the statue.
President Franklin D. Roosevelt rededicated the Statue of Liberty on its
50th anniversary (October 28 1936).
As with all historic areas administered by the National Park Service,
Statue of Liberty National Monument, along with Ellis Island and Liberty
Island, was listed on the National Register of Historic Places on October
15 1966[citation needed].
In 1984, the Statue of Liberty was added to the World Heritage List. [16]
Origin of the copper
Historical records make no mention of the source of the copper used in the
Statue of Liberty. In the town of Vigsnes, near Stavanger, Norway,
tradition holds that the copper came from the French-owned Visnes
Mine.[17][18] Ore from this mine, refined in France and Belgium, was a
significant source of European copper in the late nineteenth century. In
1985, Bell Laboratories used emission spectrography to compare samples of
copper from the Visnes Mines and from the Statue of Liberty, found the
spectrum of impurities to be very similar, and concluded that the evidence
argued strongly for a Norwegian origin of the copper.
Liberty Centennial
The Statue of Liberty was one of the earliest beneficiaries of a cause
marketing campaign. A 1983 promotion advertised that for each purchase
made with an American Express card, American Express would contribute one
penny to the renovation of the statue. The campaign generated
contributions of $1.7 million to the Statute of Liberty restoration
project. In 1984, the statue was closed so that a $62 million renovation
could be performed for the statue's centennial. Chrysler chairman Lee
Iacocca was appointed by President Reagan to head the commission
overseeing the task (but was later dismissed "to avoid any question of
conflict" of interest).[19] Workers erected scaffolding around the statue,
obscuring it from public view until the rededication on July 4 1986.
Inside work began with workers using liquid nitrogen to remove seven
layers of paint applied to the interior of the copper skin over the
decades. That left two layers of tar originally applied to plug leaks and
prevent corrosion. Blasting with baking soda removed the tar without
further damaging the copper. Larger holes in the copper skin had edges
smoothed then mated with new copper patches.[citation needed]
Each of the 1,350 shaped iron ribs backing the skin had to be removed and
replaced. The iron had experienced galvanic corrosion wherever it
contacted the copper skin, losing up to 50% of its thickness. Bartholdi
had anticipated the problem and used an asbestos/pitch combination to
separate the metals, but the insulation had worn away decades before. New
bars of stainless steel bent into matching shapes replaced the iron bars,
with Teflon film separating them from the skin for further insulation and
friction reduction. Liquid nitrogen was again introduced to parts of the
copper skin in a cryogenics process which was treated by a (now defunct)
Michigan company called CryoTech[citation needed] to ensure certain
individual parts of the statue were strengthened and would last longer
after installation.
The internal structure of the upraised right arm was reworked. The statue
was erected with the arm offset 18" (0.46 m) to the right and forward of
Eiffel's central frame, while the head was offset 24" (0.61 m) to the
left, which compromised the framework. Theory held that Bartholdi made the
modification without Eiffel's involvement after seeing the arm and head
were too close. Engineers considered reinforcements made in 1932
insufficient and added diagonal bracing in 1984 and 1986 to make the arm
structurally sound.
Original torch, replaced in 1986.
A new torch replaced the original, which was deemed beyond repair because
of the extensive 1916 modifications. The 1886 torch is now located in the
monument's lobby museum. The new torch has gold leaf applied to the
exterior of the "flame," which is illuminated by external lamps on the
surrounding balcony platform. Upgraded climate control systems and two
elevators (one to the top of the pedestal and a small emergency elevator
to the crown) were added. The Statue of Liberty was reopened to the public
on July 5 1986.
David L. Wolper produced the centennial extravaganza,[20] which lasted
three days, drew 12 million people, and is said to have been the largest
public event in the world as of that date. Following Rooselvelt's example,
President Reagan attended and made a speech reopening the restored statue.
Liberty Fanfare, composed by John Williams, was commissioned to celebrate
this event.
After 9/11
Until September 11 2001, the interior of the statue was open to visitors.
They would arrive by ferry and could climb the circular single-file stairs
(limited by the available space) inside the metallic statue, exposed to
the sun out in the harbor (the interior reaching extreme temperatures,
particularly in summer months), and about 30 people at a time could fit up
into her crown. This provided a broad view of New York Harbor (she faces
the ocean, and France) through 25 windows, the largest approximately 18"
in height. The view did not, therefore, include the skyline of New York
City, however. The wait outside regularly exceeded 3 hours, excluding the
wait for ferries and ferry tickets.
Liberty Island closed on September 11, 2001; the islands reopened in
December, and the statue itself reopened on August 3 2004. Currently, the
museum and ten-story pedestal are open for visitation. The interior of the
statue remains closed, although a glass ceiling in the pedestal allows for
views of Eiffel's iron framework.
Visitors to Liberty Island and the Statue are currently subject to
restrictions, including personal searches similar to the security found in
airports.
That was not the first time, however, that the Statue of Liberty had been
threatened by terrorism. On February 18, 1965, the Federal Bureau of
Investigation (FBI) announced it had uncovered a plot by three commandos
from the Black Liberation Front, who were connected to Cuba, and a female
co-conspirator from Montreal seeking independence for Quebec from Canada,
who were sent to destroy the statue and at least two other national
shrines - the Liberty Bell in Philadelphia and the Washington Monument in
Washington, D.C.
In May 2006, a bill was proposed in Congress which, if approved, could
re-open the crown and interior of the Statue of Liberty to visitors.
Approval or disapproval of this bill will probably occur in early- to
mid-2007.[citation needed]
On August 9, 2006 National Park Service Director Fran Mainella, in a
letter to Congressman Anthony Weiner of New York stated that the crown and
interior of the statue would remain closed indefinitely. The letter stated
that "the current access patterns reflect a responsible management
strategy in the best interests of all our visitors.".[21]
Jumps
At 2:45 p.m. on February 2 1912, steeplejack Frederick R. Law successfully
performed a parachute jump from the observation platform surrounding the
torch. It was done with the permission of the army captain administering
the island. The New York Times reported that he "fell fully seventy-five
feet like a dead weight, the parachute showing no inclination whatsoever
to open at first", but he then descended "gracefully", landed hard, and
limped away.[22]
The first and so far only death on Liberty Island occurred on May 13,
1929. The Times reported a witness as saying the man, later identified as
Ralph Gleason, crawled out through one of the windows of the crown, turned
around as if to return, "seemed to slip" and "shot downward, bouncing off
the breast of the statue in the plunge." The body landed on a patch of
grass at the base, just a few feet from a workman who was mowing the
grass.[23]
Replicas and derivative works
The Statue of Liberty copy on the river Seine in Paris, France. Given to
the city in 1885, it faces west, towards the original Liberty in New York
Harbor.
Main article: Replicas of the Statue of Liberty
Hundreds of other Statues of Liberty have been erected worldwide. There is
a sister statue in Paris and several others in France; they exist in
Austria, Germany, Italy, Japan, and Vietnam; one existed in Hanoi during
French colonial days. There are replicas in theme parks and resorts,
replicas created as commercial advertising, and replicas erected in U.S.
communities by patriotic benefactors, including no less than two hundred
donated by Boy Scout troops to local communities, including Birmingham,
Alabama. During the Tiananmen Square protest of 1989, Chinese student
demonstrators in Beijing built a 10 m image called the Goddess of
Democracy, which sculptor Tsao Tsing-yuan said was intentionally
dissimilar to the Statue of Liberty to avoid being "too openly
pro-American".[24]
In popular culture
Main article: The Statue of Liberty in popular culture
The Statue of Liberty quickly became a popular icon, featured in scores of
posters, pictures, motion pictures, and books. A 1911 O. Henry story
relates a fanciful conversation between "Mrs. Liberty" and another statue;
it figured in 1918 Liberty Loan posters. During the 1940s and 1950s, pulp
Science Fiction magazines featured Lady Liberty surrounded by ruins or by
the sediments of the ages. It has been in dozens of motion pictures, such
as the 1942 Alfred Hitchcock movie Saboteur, which featured a climactic
confrontation at the statue. The 1988 film Working Girl opens with a
flying camera shot that circles around the statue. In the 1989 film,
Ghostbusters 2, the ghostbusters use positively charged slime to bring the
Statue of Liberty to life in order to help defeat the evil Vigo. More
recently it was featured in X-Men where Wolverine battles Sabertooth. It
was the subject of a 1978 University of Wisconsin prank in which Lady
Liberty appeared to be standing submerged in a local lake. It has appeared
on New York and New Jersey license plates, and on the uniforms of at least
one sports team. It was the subject of magician David Copperfield's
largest vanishing act. Several video games have used it as a setting,
including Civilization II, Rise of Nations: Thrones and Patriots,
Spiderman 2, and Deus Ex. |