The Statue of Liberty

More than 125 years ago, the people of France gave the Statue of Liberty to the people of the United Sates in recognition of the friendship established during the American Revolution. The proper name of the Statue is “Liberty Enlightening the World”. Sculptor Frédéric Auguste Bartholdi was commissioned to design the sculpture with the year 1876 in mind for completion, to commemorate the centennial of the American Declaration of Independence, but it was actually completed a decade later. Bartholdi incorporated many symbolic features into the final design, including 25 windows in the crown representing gemstones found on the earth and the heavens’ rays shining all over the world, seven crown rays representing the seven seas and the seven continents, and a tablet in the left hand reading “July 4, 1776,” the date of American Independence. The Statue weighs more than 300,000 pounds and was transported from France in many pieces and assembled after arriving in the United States. It was placed upon a granite pedestal inside the courtyard of the star-shaped walls of Fort Wood, which, like Governors Island’s Castle Williams, was erected for the War of 1812. In 1982, an $86 million restoration began, and the newly restored Statue opened to the public on July 5, 1986, during Liberty Weekend, which celebrated its centennial. President Ronald Regan, alongside President Francois Mitterrand, pressed a remote button to relight the refurbished torch from Governors Island, near where you now stand. The Statue of Liberty is one of the most recognizable icons in the world, symbolizing freedom, democracy, and opportunity, and millions of people visit it each year.

New York, New York · United States