Statue of Liberty

The Statue of Libertyisa colossal neoclassical sculpture on Liberty Island in New York Harbor in New York, in the United States. The copper statue, a gift from the people of France to the people of the United States, was designed by French sculptor Frédéric Auguste Bartholdi and its metal framework was built by Gustave Eiffel. The statue was dedicated on October 28, 1886.

Statue of Liberty Liberty Enlightening the World
Location	Liberty Island Manhattan, New York City, New York,[1] U.S.
Coordinates	40°41′21″N 74°2′40″W
Height	Height of copper statue (to torch): 151 feet 1 inch (46 meters) From ground level to torch: 305 feet 1 inch (93 meters)
Dedicated	October 28, 1886
Restored	1938, 1984–1986, 2011–2012
Sculptor	Frédéric Auguste Bartholdi
Visitors	3.2 million (in 2009)[2]
Governing body	U.S. National Park Service
Website	Statue of Liberty National Monument
UNESCO World Heritage Site
Type	Cultural
Criteria	i, vi
Designated	1984 (8th session)
Reference no.	307
State Party	United States
Region	Europe and North America
U.S. National Monument
Designated	October 15, 1924
Designated by	President Calvin Coolidge[3]
U.S. National Register of Historic Places
Official name: Statue of Liberty Enlightening the World[4]
Designated	September 14, 2017
Reference no.	100000829
New Jersey Register of Historic Places
Designated	May 27, 1971
Reference no.	1535[5]
New York City Landmark
Type	Individual
Designated	September 14, 1976[6]
Location within New York City Show map of New York CityShow map of New YorkShow all

The Statue of Liberty is a figure of Libertas, a robed Roman liberty goddess. She holds a torch above her head with her right hand, and in her left hand carries a tabula ansata inscribed in Roman numerals with "JULY IV MDCCLXXVI" (July 4, 1776), the date of the U.S. Declaration of Independence. A broken shackle and chain lie at her feet as she walks forward, commemorating the recent national abolition of slavery.^[7] The statue became an icon of freedom and of the United States, and a national park tourism destination. It is a welcoming sight to immigrants arriving from abroad.

Bartholdi was inspired by a French law professor and politician, Édouard René de Laboulaye, who is said to have commented in 1865 that any monument raised to U.S. independence would properly be a joint project of the French and U.S. peoples. Because of the post-war instability in France, work on the statue did not commence until the early 1870s. In 1875, Laboulaye proposed that the French finance the statue and the U.S. provide the site and build the pedestal. Bartholdi completed the head and the torch-bearing arm before the statue was fully designed, and these pieces were exhibited for publicity at international expositions.

The torch-bearing arm was displayed at the Centennial Exposition in Philadelphia in 1876, and in Madison Square Park in Manhattan from 1876 to 1882. Fundraising proved difficult, especially for the Americans, and by 1885 work on the pedestal was threatened by lack of funds. Publisher Joseph Pulitzer, of the New York World, started a drive for donations to finish the project and attracted more than 120,000 contributors, most of whom gave less than a dollar. The statue was built in France, shipped overseas in crates, and assembled on the completed pedestal on what was then called Bedloe's Island. The statue's completion was marked by New York's first ticker-tape parade and a dedication ceremony presided over by President Grover Cleveland.

The statue was administered by the United States Lighthouse Board until 1901 and then by the Department of War; since 1933 it has been maintained by the National Park Service as part of the Statue of Liberty National Monument. Public access to the balcony around the torch has been barred since 1916.