The Statue of Liberty has long been one of the symbols of New York and the United States in general. Traditionally considering the United States to be the most democratic state on Earth, this landmark is often seen as a symbol of democracy and freedom. Meanwhile, the statue is by no means American in origin.
"The Statue of Liberty" is an abbreviated name, but the full one sounds a little differently: "Freedom that illuminates the world."
The appearance of the statue
The statue is a very impressive structure. Its height is 46 m, and if we count the pedestal and base - 93 m.
The allegorical figure of Freedom in the image of a woman rests with one foot on the broken chains. Her head is crowned with a crown with seven rays. The number of rays requires some explanation. The fact is that Western geographers view Europe and Asia not as two parts of one continent - Eurasia, but as two different continents. Accordingly, in Western geography there are not six continents, but seven, and they are symbolized by the rays of the crown.
In her right hand, a woman holds a torch with which she "illuminates the world", and in her left - a tablet on which the date is inscribed in Roman numerals: July 4, 1776. This is a very important date for the Americans, because it was on this day that their country was born, the adoption of the Declaration took place independence of the United States. The birth of the famous statue is also associated with this date.
The history of the creation of the Statue of Liberty
In 1876, America celebrated a grand jubilee - the 100th anniversary of the adoption of the United States' Declaration of Independence. 11 years before this significant date, in 1865, the French lawyer E. Laboulay had an interesting idea. This man has always admired America, considered it the "sister" of his homeland. Perhaps he had reason to say so: during the War of Independence, the United States received both military aid and material support from France.
E. Laboulay decided that France should make America a gift for the anniversary. He told about this to his friends, among whom was the sculptor F. Bartholdi. It was he who began work on a grandiose statue, designed to become a gift to the United States from a friendly state.
There are different versions as to who exactly became the model for F. Bartholdi. It is believed that this was the widow of I. Singer - the creator of the famous sewing machine; they also see a resemblance to the sculptor's mother. But, undoubtedly, he was influenced by the painting by the French artist E. Delacroix "Freedom leading the people to the barricades", where there is also an allegorical figure of Freedom in the form of a woman-goddess.
In such a grandiose project, it was impossible to do without an engineer who would design the support and frame. This was done by G. Eiffel, who later created the famous Parisian tower.
The project required a lot of money. They were collected both in France and in the USA. Not everyone supported this initiative, many believed that such huge sums of money could be spent on something more useful and practical, and fundraising did not go as quickly as they would like. Therefore, it was not possible to complete the statue for the anniversary of the Declaration of Independence; this was done 10 years later.
The inauguration of the statue, which became a gift from France to the United States of America, took place on October 28, 1886.
