Statue of Liberty Historical Facts and Pictures

Located at the centre of New York Harbor in Manhattan, the colossal Statue of Liberty commemorates the lasting alliance between United States and France. It was a joint effort by both nations, where the Americans built the pedestal on which French sculptor Frederic-Auguste Bartholdi erected this enormous statue. Entitled as the “Statue of Liberty Enlightening the World”, this 93-metered high structure (including the pedestal) was included in the list of UNESCO World Heritage Sites in 1984.

Statue of Liberty

Statue of Liberty Photos

Statue of Liberty Pictures

Construction of Statue of Liberty

Towards the end of American Civil War, around 1865, French historian Edouard de Laboulaye proposed to gift United States a statue to honor the Union victory and the end of slavery. The construction work, however, did not start until 1875 due to political unrest in France. Frederic-Auguste Bartholdi completed building the head and the right arm that bears a torch even before the statue was fully designed. The torch-bearing arm was exhibited for publicity in 1876 at the Centennial Exposition in Philadelphia and at Madison Square Park in New York from 1876 – 1882.

Statue of Liberty at Night

Statue of Liberty Images

Statue of Liberty at Night

Statue of Liberty Night View

Statue of Liberty Torch

Statue of Liberty Torch

Statue of Liberty Torch Pictures

Inside Structure and Design

Embodying the Roman goddess of freedom, Libertas, the statue represents a huge structure of a robed female carrying a torch in her right hand and a tablet in the other hand. The date of American Independence, July 4, 1776, is engraved on the tablet in her left hand. Alexandre-Gustave Eiffel, along with Eugène-Emmanuel Viollet-le-Duc, designed the steel framework of the statue, upon which Batholdi used the technique of repousse to form the skin of the structure. The statue was completed in 1885 and was finally displayed in front of thousands of spectators on October 28, 1886.

Crown Inside Statue of Liberty

Inside the Statue of Liberty

Stairs Inside the Statue of Liberty

Statue of Liberty Crown Inside

Statue of Liberty Inside 2nd Floor

Statue of Liberty Inside of the Crown

Statue of Liberty Inside the Stairs

The Federal Government designated this epic sculpture as a national monument in 1924. Later in 1933, it was handed over to the National Park Service. By the early twentieth century, the statue displayed a distinctive green color (known as verdigris), due to the exposure of its skin through rain, sun and wind. In 1984, the statue underwent a massive reconstruction and was closed to the public before being reopened in 1986. After the attacks on September 11, 2001, it was again closed from 2001 to 2004 as a safety precaution.