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The Statue of Liberty Facts

The Statue of Liberty Facts
The Statue of Liberty was a gift from the people of France, designed by Frederic Auguste Bartholdi. It was given to the United States and erected on Liberty Island (originally called Bedloe Island), which sits in the center of New York Harbor. It was originally constructed in France, and shipped to the United States in crates. It took many yeas to raise the funds to cover the cost of building the pedestal. In October of 1886 the dedication ceremony was finally held. The statue had to be closed to the public in 1984, for two years, because it had deteriorated and required restoration. The torch itself had to be replaced. There has been no public access to the torch's balcony since 1916, when Germans tried to damage it by setting off an explosion during WWI.
Interesting The Statue of Liberty Facts:
The statue's concept was meant to celebrate both the American Revolution victory and the abolishment of slavery.
From the Statue of Liberty's heel to the top of her head, she is 111 feet and 6 inches tall.
From the foundation of the statue's pedestal to the top of the torch, it stands at 305 feet and 6 inches.
Her face is more than eight feet tall.
To walk to the crown of the statue you would need to climb 354 steps.
The tablet in her hand is inscribed with the date July IV MDCCLXXVI which means July 4th, 1776. This is the day that marks the American Declaration of Independence.
The statue weighs 450,000 pounds.
When the torch was restored, it was covered with thin, 24K gold sheets.
The copper that covers the statue is not quite as thick as two pennies.
The Statue of liberty's full name is Liberty Enlightening the World.
The statue is robed, and she represents Libertas, also known as the Roman goddess of freedom.
If the Statue of Liberty was a real woman, she would need a size 879 shoe.
She would need a dress with a 35 foot waist.
In the crown of the statue are 25 windows.
6 million people visit the Eiffel Tower each year, while 4 million visit the Statue of Liberty.
The crown has seven spikes which represent both the seven continents and the seven oceans in the world.
It took three hundred types of hammers to create the statue.
At the bottom of the statue it appears that she is moving from a broken shackle and chains, representing oppression and slavery.
When immigrants came to the United States by boat in the second half of the 19th century, the first thing they saw was often the Statue of Liberty.
The statue was used as a lighthouse from 1886 to 1902.
The Statue of Liberty is often seen in movies, and was destroyed, ironically, in Independence Day.
At the time the statue was built, it was the tallest iron building ever constructed.
It is estimated that the statue is hit by lightning approximately 600 times each year.
After the 911 attacks the statue was closed. In 2004 the pedestal reopened. In 2009 the statue reopened.
As of October 2013, the Statue of Liberty celebrated its 127th birthday.


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