Origins and Construction

The ORIGINS

The Statue of Liberty, now a symbol of New York, has an adventurous and original constructive history, characterized by exceptional transportation. It was a French historian, Édouard de Laboulaye, who proposed, in 1865, the idea of erecting a monument to celebrate the friendship between the United States of America and France, on the occasion of the first centenary of the independence of the former from English rule. The French were supposed to provide the statue, the Americans were supposed to provide the pedestal. The head of the statue was exposed to the public during the Universal Exposition of Paris in 1878.

Édouard René Lefèbvre de Laboulaye was a French jurist and poet. In 1865 he originated the idea of a monument presented by the French people to the United States that resulted in the Statue of Liberty in New York Harbor. He got the idea thinking that this would help strengthen their relationship with the United States.

The idea was collected by a young sculptor, Frédéric Auguste Bartholdi, who was inspired by the image of Libertas, the Roman goddess of freedom, for the shape of the statue, which would hold a torch and a tabula Nsata, a representation of the law. For the internal structure, Bartholdi recruited the famous French engineer Gustave Eiffel

THE BEGINning

The actual construction began in Paris in 1877. Here, the yards next to the left arm of the statue, with the table bearing the date of the Independence Day in Roman characters.

THE INAUGURATION

THE FRENCH ONE

The monument was formally completed in Paris and presented to the American ambassador visiting Paris on July 4, 1884 . Meanwhile, in New York, work on the pedestal continued slowly, mainly due to lack of funds. Joseph Pulitzer, a New York World journalist and publisher, launched a fundraiser among the newspaper’s readers, promising to publish the names of the donors. He raised $102,000, mostly from donations of less than a dollar.

THE JOURNEY

In 1885, the statue was disassembled in several parts and transported by ship, across the ocean, to New York, aboard a French steamer

THE INAUGURATION

THE AMERICAN ONE

When the statue arrived in New York, the parts of it were hoisted on the supporting structure by means of ropes. Unexpectedly - given the safety standards of the time, well represented in this 1886 illustration - no worker died.

The work, called "Freedom that illuminates the world", was inaugurated with a solemn ceremony on 28 October 1886. The characteristic green color with which we know it due to the oxidation of copper, did not emerge until 1900.

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