Statue of Liberty How It Was Built
Introduction
Statue of the Liberty is a triumph of aesthetics and engineering. How did they do it? Can it really withstand earthquakes? And how will its appearance change over the coming decades? Join us today as we look up and ask how the world’s tallest statue was built.
Statue of the Liberty is a United States of America’s primary landmarks. It is a neoclassical sculpture located in New York City and known all over the world. It stands in the harbor of a small island called Liberty Island in 1984 due to its importance and being considered an architectural Masterpiece the statue was declared a UNESCO world heritage site. The Statue of Liberty whose official name is liberty and lighting the world was given to the United States as a gift from Napoleon III the first president of the second French Republic.
Construction Work
The gesture was made to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the independence of the United States of America in 1776 which is why it symbolizes Freedom democracy and hope the monument was designed by a French sculptor named Frederick August bartholdi and designed by Eugene Emmanuel Violette Le Duke and engineer Alexander Gustav Eiffel who was also in charge of Designing the famous Eiffel Tower. Steel Cast Iron copper and cement were used in its construction. Many people worked on the statue’s development. The work routine was hard as workers spent 10 hours every day of the week dedicated to the building. It was difficult to get financial support for the project and bartholdi had to undertake his own initiatives such as organizing shows to raise the money needed. In 1876 bartholdi hosted a Torchlight display of the statue in Philadelphia this event besides being well received by the public helped him raise money to continue the work the statue began to be made in France in 1870 but it was not completed until 1884 and arrived at the United States only in 1885 to be shipped it had to be disassembled into 350 pieces which were packed in a total of 214 boxes.
Milestone Monument
The construction of The Monument’s base was completed in April 1886. This support was made in the USA itself after its completion four months in total were needed for the Statue to be assembled on it the unveiling of the Colossal. Statue of Liberty took place on October the 23rd 1886. This Milestone Monument was attended by thousands of people including Grover Cleveland the president of the United States at the time who was certain to participate in this historic moment for his Nation after the unveiling the statue served for a time as a lighthouse and historically was the first Lighthouse to use electric power as for its features the sculpture displays a woman the Roman goddess libertas symbol of Freedom.
How it Look
The statue’s face is said to have been inspired by bartholi’s mother while the statue’s body was inspired by his wife his right arm is extended above its head and its hand holds a torch while the other hand holds a board on which is inscribed in Roman numerals. The date of July the 4th 1776 when the United States Declaration of Independence was issued interestingly the left hand holding a tablet and the torch held by the other hand are Masonic Illusions proposed by partholdi who was a Freemason on the head of the statue there is a crown with a set of 25 windows that refer to the gemstones found in the USA and there are also seven rays that refer to the seven continents and the Seven Seas of the world. Its height is 92.9 meters of which 46.9 are the height of the bays and 46 meters the height of the Statue itself the equivalent of a 22-story building to get to the top you have to climb a 354-step staircase and there are 215 steps up to the pedestal the index finger is 2.5 meters long and its nose measures 1.37 meters on the top of these measurements.
The statue weighs an incredible 225 tons and entered the Guinness book of records as the planet’s heaviest sculpture perhaps a detail that many are unaware of is that at the foot of the statue there is a bronze plaque on which is written a sonnet called The New Colossus written in 1833 by the poet Emma Lazarus to raise funds for the construction of the statue’s base although the color of the statue is somewhat greenish today. This was not always the case the original color was reddish brown the color change is a result of the action of time wind rain and pollution since its inauguration several Restorations have been made to the statue for preservation purposes. In 1986 the statue’s Centennial year the entire Monument was cleaned and the crown was exchanged because as the original one was worn away besides this other changes and damage have occurred over time one of the most striking was when an attack was made by the Germans during the first world war damaging the torch and also another part of the statue due to this event the statue now has a new torch that is gold-plated and lit up at night visitors were allowed to climb up to the statue’s torch for some years but that is not permitted nowadays but this detail does not prevent thousands of tourists from visiting the monument which can be seen up close when people take a boat or ferry to the island on which the statue stands alternatively it can simply be seen from a far from other points in the city.
Major Symbol for Americans
The annual number of visitors is between three and four million. The Statue of Liberty is a major symbol for Americans. It is the country’s main postcard and is known around the globe. There are even some replicas in countries such as Japan France and Brazil besides its remarkable historical and cultural value. The statue also has a huge tourist appeal attracting thousands of visitors every year and being the most visited place in New York.
