What should you know about the Statue of Liberty?
It was officially named as the liberty enlightening the world and is a monument that is used to symbolize the states that are united. This monument is placed on the entrance into New York City harbor. This monument is used to commemorate the signing that took place of the declaration of the United States independence. This statue was given by the France people as a representation of their friendship with the United States that was established at the time of the American Revolution. This statue is of a woman who is wearing a crown, a stola, sandals, a broken chain and the right hand is raised while holding a torch and on the left hand she is holding a tablet with JULY IV MDCCCLXXVI written which is the date when independence was declared. This torch in this statue acts as a symbol of enlightenment and it lights the road to freedom and showing the path that leads to liberty.
The dedication ceremony of this statue took place in October 1886 and was presided over by Grover Cleveland who was a governor in New York. On this day there was a parade that was held in New York City and there were many people who attended this ceremony and watched the marchers and the bands from across America. The nautical parade started at 12:45 pm where Cleveland boarded a yacht where he went across the harbor to the Bedloe’s Island where the dedication took place.
This statue welcomes the visitors, returning Americans or immigrants who come by ship. The internal structure was designed by Maurice Koechlin who was the chief engineer at an engineering company known as Gustave Eiffel. This statue is covered with pure copper which has now oxidized naturally to a Patina green coating with a steel framework and the flame of this torch is coated with gold leaf. This statue placed on a stonework that is rectangular and a foundation that has the shape of a star that is irregular and eleven pointed. This statue is 46 m tall and the foundation and pedestal are 93 m tall. This statue among the symbols that are recognized most in the world. There are some metal plaques that are near this statue and one of them is a copper plaque which is a colossal statue that is used to represent liberty and was built by the Gadget Paris firm. There is also another plaque that was made by the committee of New York which is used to commemorate the fundraising that was done for the pedestal to be built. There is another group of the statue that is five in number that was built in order to honor the people that were involved in the building of the Liberty Statue. The five people were two Americans and the Frenchmen who were three Maryland Sculptor Philip Ratner designed these five statues. In the year 1984, this liberty statue was designated to be the UNESCO World Heritage Site. UNESCO described this statue as the ‘masterpiece of the human spirit.’