Statue of Liberty

The Statue of Liberty is a global symbol of freedom and democracy, located in New York Harbor. It was a gift from France to the United States in the late 19th century. Here’s how the statue was built and its history: Idea and Planning: Original Idea: The idea for the statue was proposed by French historian Édouard Laboulaye in 1865 as a symbol of friendship between France and the United States and to celebrate the centennial of American independence. Laboulaye wanted to embody the shared values of freedom and democracy between the two nations. Sculptor: French sculptor Frédéric Auguste Bartholdi was commissioned to design the statue. Bartholdi drew inspiration from the figure of Libertas, the Roman goddess of freedom, representing liberty and the liberation of oppressed peoples. Design and Construction: The Head and Arms: Bartholdi began work on the statue in 1875. The head and arms were built first and displayed at world exhibitions to promote the project and raise funds. The statue’s arm holding the torch was displayed at the Philadelphia Exposition in 1876 and later in New York to attract attention and funding. Construction in France: The Statue of Liberty was built in Paris in stages. The statue was made of copper plates mounted on an internal iron framework. Bartholdi used a modern technique for the time, designing an internal structure to support the copper plates. The famous engineer Gustave Eiffel, who later designed the Eiffel Tower, was responsible for designing the internal iron framework of the statue. The structure was made of iron, and a new technique was used to attach the copper plates to the internal frame in a flexible way, allowing it to withstand wind. Structure and Materials: The statue is made of copper, with a thickness of 2.4 mm, which gives it its characteristic green color (the green color #history #europeanhistory #vietnamwar is a result of the oxidation of the copper over time). The internal structure is made of cast iron, which supports the statue and allows it to endure weather conditions.