The Statue of Liberty is symbolic of everything: the history of creation, the name itself, and even its location. And there is a Lady with a torch with her back to the city, her face into the ocean. And this is no coincidence!
The modern United States of America cannot be imagined without hot dogs, chewing gum … and the Statue of Liberty, which has become a kind of symbol of America and one of the most famous sculptures of the modern world, donated, as you know, by the people of France on the first centenary of the American Revolution.
Freedom with a mother's face
The architect Auguste Bartholdi was commissioned to create this monumental work of art with money collected with great difficulty from donations and all kinds of charitable lotteries. It is a well-known fact that the sculptor used the services of the American model, Isaac Singer's wife Isabella Boyer, however, the face was created in the image and likeness of the face of the famous creator's mother.
The project is based on the designs made by the sculptor for a giant Egyptian monument. The interior frame was designed by Gustave Eiffel.
And by the summer of 1884, almost ten years after the start of work, this splendor appeared in the world in the form in which it can be observed today.
350 individual elements of the statue were transported to the harbor of New York City, on Liberty Island, which became the new home of the famous creation, symbolizing the triumph of freedom and a democratic way of life. Lady Liberty is the name given to the 93-meter-high statue of hundreds of thousands of Americans.
Symbolism
The grandiose project has been welcoming newly arrived emigrants for many years, inspiring them with words stamped on a pedestal, marking the American way of life, equal opportunity, freedom and democracy. That is why the statue is turned with its back to the city and its front to the bay: it was supposed to look at the ships sailing here with emigrants and guests.
In the right hand of the statue there is a huge torch, and in the left hand there is a tablet immortalizing the date of the adoption of the famous declaration of independence, seven prongs of the crown symbolize the seas and continents, broken chains - liberation from slavery.
It is interesting that this sculpture has a huge number of imitations and mini-copies, of which there are more than two hundred around the world.
Over the years of its existence, the statue has undergone numerous restoration works and was even included in the list of UNESCO monuments, changed its color from copper-golden to green, survived many destruction and cataclysms, however, approaching the monument, again and again millions of people understand that they are touching to the great history of a great country.