The Statue of LibertyThe first thing most of the immigrants arriving in New York harbour could see was the Statue of Liberty showing the way to their new home in the "New World". It was a present of France to commemorate the help of France in the American independence efforts and the common liberty principles of the two countries. Originally the statue was planned to be presented on the 100th anniversary of the American independence in 1876, but at that time only the right arm holding the torch up to the sky was completed. Finally in 1884 the whole statue was installed in Paris to be officially handed over to the American ambassador on July 4th. After that, the whole construction was partitioned into (350) pieces, packed and loaded to a ship to carry it across the Atlantic Ocean (in 1885). There the Americans had already built the concrete pedestal for the huge statue between 1883 and 1886. In his acceptance statement President Grover Cleveland said: "We will not forget that liberty here made her home; nor shall her chosen altar be neglected". In 1924 (Oct. 15th) "Miss Liberty" was designated a National Monument. At the age of almost 100 years, the statue was renovated for $87 million between 1984 and 1986 to be presented in a fashionable way on its 100th anniversary on July 4th . During these works the United Nations designated the Statue of Liberty as a World Heritage Site like the Wartburg Castle, the Tower of London, the Yellowstone Park or the Acropolis in Athens. Today "Miss Liberty" is one of the main tourist attractions of New York and also obligatory for all people visiting America. T he idea of constructing a statue came from the French help during the American revolution. France provided arms, ships, money and soldiers to the American colonies. Some Frenchmen even became army leaders in the fight against the British King. In 1865 some French intellectuals - among them: Frédéric Auguste Bartholdi - discussed to give America a great monument to commemorate the centennial of the Declaration of Independence in 1876. Bartholdi, a 31-year-old Alsacian sculptor started realising his idea of 1865 nine years later. By the establishment of the Third Republic, i.e. a democratic system, Bartholdi and his partner Laboulaye agreed that "the lady's" time had come. Because of the immense costs of $400,000 - only for the statue - the Franco-American Union, a fund-raising committee was formed, supported by both countries. The goal of presenting the statue on July 4th , 1876 was supported by donation appeals in French newspapers in September 1875 and benefit parties and concerts. But the money wasn't sufficient to start until 1875. The project go the name: "Liberty Enlightening the World". The technique of hammering copper sheets into wooden moulds was called " repoussé " and proved to be very good to reach a high stability at a minimum weight. The treated copper sheets were assembled on an intricate metal framework / skeleton constructed by Alexandre-Gustave Eiffel, the constructor of the 300 metres high Eiffel Tower in Paris (1887-1889). As Bartholdi noticed that it was impossible to finish his work until in 1876, he decided to provide at least the right arm with the torch to the International Centennial Exhibition in Philadelphia (1876). The 20 labourers, working 10 hours a day and 7 days a week were watched by 300,000 Frenchmen paying for watching the progress of the statue. But even the arm was not finished till the opening of the exhibition in July. It was finished in August, yet until the fair closed. For a fee of 50 cents visitors could climb into the arm up to the balcony around the torch. This was quite a great innovation, since this was the first statue one could climb inside. After Bartholdi had travelled with Miss Liberty's arm to America he set himself a new aim: the World Fair in Paris, May 1878. But for this fair, she was late, too. With a delay of 1 month the head was presented to the public. But the lack of money wasn't eliminated until that time. To raise more money the Franco-American Union held a lottery for the richer Frenchmen with very fashionable prizes like jewellery, silver plates and original works by Bartholdi. Until 1879, about 250,000 Francs (~ $250,000) had been collected for the construction. After finishing and handing over the statue in June 1884, the whole construction was dismantled in spring of 1885 and shipped to America. There the foundation and pedestal, constructed in 1877 by Richard Morris Hunt and built April 1883 - May 1884 (foundation) and 1885 - 1886 (pedestal), had to overcome similar problems. The money collected for the pedestal, ~$180,000 in 1884 was mostly contributed by citizens and the government. The American millionaires didn't want to help the project as their French colleagues did. Joseph Pulitzer, a Hungarian immigrant who became an influential newspaper owner used his media to degrade the rich. For that reason many of the working-class people bought the paper and gave money because Pulitzer had promised to publish the name of everyone giving money to the Statue of Liberty fund in his paper. He said: "Let us not wait for the millionaires to give this money. It is not a gift from the millionaires of France to the millionaires of America, but a gift of the whole people of France to the whole people of America." At last "the World", Pulitzer's newspaper collected more than $100.000, containing 120.000 individual contributions. Finally, the foundation for the Statue was about 16 metres high. On that concrete foundation the pedestal (27 metres) was built. In May 1886 the final assembly of the statue and the pedestal started. On October 28th , 1886 the statue was officially unveiled by Bartholdi himself among many famous and rich persons and President Cleveland. At that time the Statue of Liberty was the tallest structure in New York with a height from ground to torch of 93 metres. In 1903 a bronze tablet with the engraved poem" The New Colossus ", written by Emma Lazarus in 1883 to help the money collections, was installed. In 1916 Pulitzer's newspaper again appealed to give money for the Statue. The torch had been renewed and a floodlight had been installed for the nights. In 1933 the National Park Service (NPS) took over administration and maintenance of the statue after it had been held by several federal agencies. Today everyone can visit the official NPS internet site (www.nps.gov) for further information about Liberty Island (which had been called Bedloe's Island until 1956) and of course about "Lady Liberty". In the renovation works from 1984 to 1986 the whole statue was put into a scaffold and the copper skin was conserved. Furthermore a lift was installed and the old torch was replaced by a golden one. The money for the restoration was again collected. In an appeal for the restoration of the statue and Ellis Island over $295 million were collected from private persons, of which $87 million were used for the Statue of Liberty. The main materials used for the statue were copper, (shaped in sheets of 2.37 mm) of which 100 tons were used, steel (125 tons) and concrete for the pedestal and foundation (27,000 tons!) . The copper sheets were riveted on an iron skeleton inside the statue. The total costs of $700,000, 400,000 by the French and 300,000 by the Americans would be about $190 million in today's money (at an inflation rate of 5% from 1886). The total height of the statue is 46.5 metres from foot to torch, about 25 times taller than man. Miss Liberty's shoe's length is 7.6 metres which is US women's size: 879 and German size: ~1200. The chains under her foot represent Liberty crushing the chains of slavery. The seven rays of her diadem symbolise the seven oceans/continents and on the tablet in her hand the caption is JULY IV MDCCLXXVI , the day of the Declaration of Independence.
Today about 5 million visitors come to visit the Statue of liberty, mostly in the summer months. Attention: These Visitor Numbers are taken from statistics of 1996! In 2001 Liberty Island has been closed in September and up to now no visits are possible.
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