The Statue of Liberty has long been recognized as a symbol of democracy. It was built in France at the end of the XIX century and presented to the United States as a guarantor of unbreakable friendship between the American and French peoples. Fraternal relations were soon shelved, but the Statue of Liberty still embodies the freedom-loving spirit of Americans.
History
The monument was erected specifically for the centennial of the Declaration of independence of the United States of America and the adoption of the Declaration. It was created by a prominent French architect Frederic Bartholdi, who performed his work together with the Americans – they erected a pedestal of the future symbol of new York, while the French worked on the creation of the statue itself. Later, it was disassembled and transported to the United States, where it was finally assembled and finalized.
But this was preceded by a serious incident, which could well affect the results of a long joint work – it turned out that the last stages of construction do not have enough money. Then in France and in the United States was launched an unprecedented charity event to raise funds for the completion of construction. By the way, the Creator of the Eiffel Tower Gustav Eiffel also contributed to the creation of the Statue of Liberty, who developed a metal support for the structure and thus ensured its balance.
Soon, the majestic monument was completed. It was divided into exactly three hundred and fifty parts and taken to new York, where it was collected for four months, to then open in a solemn atmosphere. It happened in 1886 – ten years after the centenary of the Declaration of independence.
It is worth noting that the torch, which holds the statue, was made much earlier than the design itself and was even presented in 1876 at a special architectural exhibition in Philadelphia.
Interesting figure:
- at the base of the statue laid 354 steps by which you can reach the top of the monument;
- 192 steps necessary to get only to the feet of the stone women;
- in the crown, crowning the head of the statue, there are 25 Windows, which symbolizes the number of precious stones of the planet;
- the crown itself symbolizes the seven rays of the Sun, which can be attributed to seven continents and seven seas;
- more than thirty tons of copper was used to cast a huge monument (the thickness of the coating – a little more than two millimeters);
- the assembled steel structure weighed about 125 tons, the weight of the pedestal – more than 25,000 tons!
The events of September 11, 2001 did not pass without a trace for the Statue of Liberty, and for some time both the monument and the island of Liberty, on which it is located, were closed to visitors. Only in 2009 the restriction was removed – however, it is still impossible to get into the torch. Needless to say that every visitor is carefully inspected at the entrance – the US authorities can not allow a new terrorist act to destroy the symbol not only of free America, but also of universal democracy, to which Washington is so eager.