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"Liberty Enlightening the World" , known as the Statue of Liberty, is one of the most famous New York State U.S. and worldwide. It is located on Liberty Island south of the island of Manhattan, near the mouth of the Hudson River near Ellis Island. The Statue of Liberty was a gift from the French to the Americans in 1886 to commemorate the centennial of the Declaration of Independence of the United States and as a sign of friendship between the two nations. It was inaugurated on October 28, 1886 in the presence of U.S. President at the time, Grover Cleveland. The statue is the work of French sculptor Frederic Auguste Bartholdi and the internal structure was designed by engineer Gustave Eiffel. The French architect Eugène Viollet-le-Duc, was responsible for the choice of the brass used for the construction of the statue . On October 15, 1924, the statue was declared a National Monument and the United States October 15, 1965 Ellis Island was added. Since 1984 is considered World Heritage by UNESCO.
The Statue of Liberty, as well as being an important monument in the city of New York, became a symbol of U.S. occupation and in a more general level, freedom and emancipation from oppression. Since its opening in 1886, the statue was the first vision they had when European immigrants arrived to America after crossing the Atlantic Ocean. In architectural terms, the statue recalls the famous Colossus of Rhodes, one of the "seven wonders of the world." She was nominated for the "new world wonders," where was a finalist. The name given by UNESCO is "National Monument Statue of Liberty." Since June 10, 1933 is responsible for its administration the National Park Service of the United States.
There are several hypotheses of historians on the model could have been used to determine the face of the statue, but none of them are really short so far. Among the possible inspiration for the statue's face is Isabella Eugenie Boyer , widow of millionaire inventor Isaac Singer.
According to other sources, Bartholdi would have been inspired in the face of his mother, Charlotte Bartholdi (1801-1891), and is considered the best case to date. The National Geographic supported this possibility, indicating that the sculptor never explained nor deny this resemblance to her mother. Other versions say that Bartholdi would have liked to play the face of a girl perched on a barricade holding a torch, the day after the coup d'etat of Napoleon III. Perhaps just made a synthesis of several female faces, in order to provide a neutral and impersonal image of Liberty.
During a visit to Egypt, Bartholdi had to do a job in the Suez Canal. This project began under the direction of the employer and French diplomat Ferdinand de Lesseps, who later became one of his best friends. Bartholdi envisioned a great lighthouse, which would be in the entrance channel, which would mark the routes. The lighthouse was designed as the image with classic look (stole, sandals, facial expression) of the goddess Libertas in Roman mythology, god of freedom. It was intended that the beacon light shining through a bandage wrapped around the top of the lighthouse, and the idea of a torch held in the air, into the sky. Barthold presented the project to Khedive Ismail Pasha in 1867 and again in 1869, but the project was not approved. The drawings of the project entitled "Egypt is the light of Asia" largely resemble the Statue of Liberty but Bartholdi said the New York monument was not re-use, but an original work.
By mutual agreement between France and the United States, the latter would undertake the construction of the monument's base, while France would be responsible for building the statue and subsequent assembly once the parts are transported to American soil. However, there were financial problems on both sides of the Atlantic .
In France, the campaign for the promotion of the statue started in autumn 1875. was the founding in 1874 of so-called Franco-American Union, which took charge of organizing the fundraising for the memorial. All media of the period were used for this purpose: newspaper articles, shows, banquets, taxes, lotteries, etc.. Several French cities, the General Council, the Chamber of Commerce, the Grand Orient of France and thousands of individuals made donations for the construction of the statue. There were a total of 100,000 donors. Before the end of 1875, funds amounting to a total of 400,000 francs, but the budget was later increased to 1,000,000 francs in the period. It was not until 1880 that the total collected funds in France. Meanwhile, in the United States were theatrical performances, art exhibitions, auctions and professional boxing matches to raise funds for construction.
Meanwhile, in France, Bartholdi looked for an engineer to take charge of designing the internal structure of the statue in copper. Gustave Eiffel was hired to carry out such work, and create an internal tower that supported the statue and design a secondary internal skeleton that would allow the "skin" of copper is kept upright. The copper pieces were built in the workshops of the company Gaget-Gauthier, in 1878. The copper plates were a gift of Pierre-Eugene Secrétan. The precision work is commissioned to engineer Maurice Koechlin, Eiffel's confidant, with whom he had worked in the construction of the Eiffel Tower .
Bartholdi had hoped that the statue would be completed and assembled for the July 4, 1876, when the centenary of American independence. There was a delayed start of construction and then some problems during the construction period delayed the work, the cast of the hand was broken in March 1876. The latter, with part of the arm, exposed in September 1876 at the Philadelphia Centennial Exposition. The visitors could climb a staircase leading to the balcony located around the torch paying only 50 cents. Photographs, posters and models of the statue were sold during the exhibition. The money raised was used to complete the work. Two years later, in June 1878, the head of the statue was displayed to the public in the gardens of the Champ de Mars during the Universal Exhibition in Paris, where visitors could enter the head and climb to the crown using a ladder of 43 meters.
The statue is located on the island of Liberty in New York Harbor. Originally the island was known as Bedloe Island, and served as a military base. It lodged a strong Wood, a former artillery bastion built of granite and whose foundations in the form of eleven pointed star, formed the basis for the construction of the base of the statue. The choice of land and obtaining required several steps. In 1887, the United States Congress gave its approval for the construction of the statue and General W. T. Sherman was named to designate the land where the monument would be built. This site chose as Bedloe Island. Fifteen years before the inauguration, Bartholdi had anticipated the construction of the monument on the island of Bedloe, fascinated by youth and promise of liberty for this nation and its imagined oriented continent of origin, the Europe that welcomed and would continue to welcome immigrants. It was not until 1956 that the U.S. Congress decided a name change Bedloe Island Liberty Island by the "island of freedom ".
The United States ambassador in France, Levi P. Morton, put the first rivet in the construction of the statue in Paris on October 24, 1881.
The realization of the vast base of the statue by Bartholdi had been entrusted to the Americans, while the French took over the construction of the statue and its corresponding assembly.
The collection of funds to carry out the construction of the base in the United States, was under the responsibility of the Attorney General, William M. Evarts. As construction progressed very slowly, Joseph Pulitzer (famous for the prize that bears his name) agreed to make those responsible for building the first pages of the New York World, and conducted a large publicity campaign to raise funds . The paper was also used to criticize the upper class, showing their inability to raise the necessary funds, as well as the middle classes, who had the richer for it. The harsh criticisms of the paper had a positive impact by encouraging private donors to increase their contributions and advertising while providing the newspaper because there were some 50,000 new subscribers in this period.
The necessary funds for the construction of the basement designed by American architect Richard Morris Hunt and built by engineer Charles Pomeroy Stone, met in August 1884. The first stone of the pedestal was laid on August 5, 1884, while the base, mostly composed Kersanton stone, was built between October 9, 1883 and August 22, 1886.
When placed the last stone of the monument, the builders took several coins from his pockets, and threw them into the mortar. Participants in the ceremony left their business cards, medals and newspapers in a small chest of brass, and deposited it into the socket.
At the heart of the block that makes up the base, two sets of beams connecting it directly to the internal structure designed by Gustave Eiffel so that the statue forms a whole with its pedestal. The stone that forms the base of the Statue of Liberty comes from a quarry in a village in France, Euville in the department of Meuse, famous for the whiteness of its stone and its qualities of resistance to erosion and sea water .
The different parts of the statue was completed in France in July 1884. The statue was hitherto multiple visits, as the president Jules Grevy French Republic and the writer Victor Hugo. The dismantling began in January 1885.
Location and visiting
The statue is situated in Upper New York Bay on Liberty Island, south of Ellis Island. Both islands were ceded by New York to the federal government in 1800.
[ As agreed in an 1834 compact between New York and New Jersey that set the state border at the bay's midpoint, the original islands remain New York territory despite their location on the New Jersey side of the state line. Land created by reclamation at Ellis is New Jersey territory.
Entrance to the Statue of Liberty National Monument is free, but there is a charge for the ferry service that all visitors must use, as private boats may not dock at the island. A concession was granted in 2007 to Statue Cruises to operate the transportation and ticketing facilities, replacing Circle Line, which had operated the service since 1953.
The ferries, which depart from Liberty State Park in Jersey City and Battery Park in Lower Manhattan, also stop at Ellis Island, making a combined trip possible.
All ferry riders are subject to security screening, similar to airport procedures, prior to boarding.
The statue, pedestal, and base are presently closed for renovation work.
When the structure is open, visitors intending to enter the statue's base and pedestal must obtain a complimentary museum/pedestal ticket along with their ferry ticket.
Those wishing to climb the staircase within the statue, when it is open, to the crown purchase a special ticket, which may be reserved up to a year in advance. A total of 240 people per day are permitted to ascend: ten per group, three groups per hour. Climbers may bring only medication and cameras—lockers are provided for other items—and must undergo a second security screening.
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