The Statue of Liberty

The Statue of Liberty is the tallest metal statue ever constructed and, at the time it was completed, was the tallest structure in New York City at 22 stories high. It stands 151 feet high and weighs 225 tons. The statue's arms are 42 feet long and its torch is 21 feet in length; its index fingers are eight feet long and it has a 4-foot 6-inch nose. The copper sheeting weighs 200,000 lbs. There are 167 steps from the land level to the top of the pedestal, 168 steps inside the statue to the head, and 54 rungs on the ladder leading to the arm that holds the torch. Since 1886 she has stood proudly in New York Harbor, in a naturally very corrosive marine environment. A gift from the French people to the American people, master sculptor Frederic-Auguste Bartholdi had originally envisioned this to be a new Wonder of the World to mark Egypt's Suez Canal. After history and politics got in the way, Bartholdi looked to America and saw the perfect gift to celebrate America's Centennial. Edouard de Laboulaye, French historian and admirer of American political institutions, suggested that the French present a monument to the United States who would provide the pedestal and the site. Bartholdi visualized a colossal statue at the entrance of New York harbor welcoming the peoples of the world with the torch of liberty. On Washington's Birthday, February 22, 1877, Congress approved the use of a site on Bedloe's Island suggested by Bartholdi. This island of 12 acres had been owned in the 17th century by a Walloon named Isaac Bedloe. It was called Bedloe's Island until August 3, 1956, when President Dwight D. Eisenhower approved a resolution of Congress changing the name to Liberty Island. The statue was finished May 21, 1884, and formally presented to the U.S. minister to France, Levi Parsons Morton on July 4, 1884, by Ferdinand de Lesseps, head of the Franco-American Union, promoter of the Panama Canal, and builder of the Suez Canal. On Aug. 5, 1884, the Americans laid the cornerstone for the pedestal. The statue arrived dismantled in 214 packing cases from Rouen, France, in June 1885. The last rivet of the statue was driven October 28, 1886, when President Grover Cleveland dedicated the monument. A $2.5 million building housing the American Museum of Immigration was opened by President Richard Nixon Sept. 26, 1972, at the base of the statue. It houses a permanent exhibition of photos, posters, and artifacts tracing the history of American immigration. Two years of restoration work was completed before the statue's centennial celebration on July 4, 1986. Among other repairs, the multimillion dollar project included replacing the 1,600 wrought iron bands that hold the statue's copper skin to its frame, replacing its torch, and installing an elevator.