23 Facts About Statue Liberty

1.

Statue of Liberty is a colossal neoclassical sculpture on Liberty Island in New York Harbor in New York City, in the United States.

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2.

Statue was administered by the United States Lighthouse Board until 1901 and then by the Department of War; since 1933 it has been maintained by the National Park Service as part of the Statue of Liberty National Monument, and is a major tourist attraction.

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3.

Statue Liberty was delighted to learn that the island was owned by the United States government—it had been ceded by the New York State Legislature in 1800 for harbor defense.

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4.

Statue Liberty worked on a number of sculptures designed to bolster French patriotism after the defeat by the Prussians.

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5.

The other significant female icon in American culture was a representation of Statue Liberty, derived from Libertas, the goddess of freedom widely worshipped in ancient Rome, especially among emancipated slaves.

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6.

Statue Liberty's design evokes iconography evident in ancient history including the Egyptian goddess Isis, the ancient Greek deity of the same name, the Roman Columbia and the Christian iconography of the Virgin Mary.

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7.

Statue Liberty designed the figure with a strong, uncomplicated silhouette, which would be set off well by its dramatic harbor placement and allow passengers on vessels entering New York Bay to experience a changing perspective on the statue as they proceeded toward Manhattan.

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8.

Statue Liberty gave it bold classical contours and applied simplified modeling, reflecting the huge scale of the project and its solemn purpose.

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9.

Bartholdi considered having Statue Liberty hold a broken chain, but decided this would be too divisive in the days after the Civil War.

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10.

Bartholdi was initially uncertain of what to place in Statue Liberty's left hand; he settled on a tabula ansata, used to evoke the concept of law.

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11.

Statue Liberty soon died, leaving no indication of how he intended to transition from the copper skin to his proposed masonry pier.

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12.

Statue Liberty included two interior spiral staircases, to make it easier for visitors to reach the observation point in the crown.

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13.

Statue Liberty had originally expected to assemble the skin on-site as the masonry pier was built; instead, he decided to build the statue in France and have it disassembled and transported to the United States for reassembly in place on Bedloe's Island.

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14.

Statue Liberty was succeeded as chairman of the French committee by Ferdinand de Lesseps, builder of the Suez Canal.

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15.

Statue Liberty proposed a pedestal 114 feet in height; faced with money problems, the committee reduced that to 89 feet .

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16.

Statue Liberty's work involved design computations, detailed fabrication and construction drawings, and oversight of construction.

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17.

Statue Liberty's initially declined, stating she could not write a poem about a statue.

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18.

Statue Liberty's saw a way to express her empathy for these refugees in terms of the statue.

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19.

Statue Liberty did successfully lobby for improved lighting within the statue, allowing visitors to better appreciate Eiffel's design.

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20.

Statue Liberty was examined in great detail by French and American engineers as part of the planning for its centennial in 1986.

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21.

Since Liberty Island had no electricity, a generator was installed to power temporary floodlights to illuminate the statue at night.

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22.

Statue of Liberty has been closed due to government shutdowns and protests, as well as for disease pandemics.

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23.

Statue Liberty Island is one of the islands that are part of the borough of Manhattan in New York.

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