It all started on the outskirts of Versailles, near the French capital, Paris, in 1865, during a dinner at the home of historian and journalist Edouard de Laboulaye. Officially, the monument was designed to honor the United States on the centenary of its independence and, at the same time, celebrate the good relations between the two countries.
Behind the scenes, however, it was a test of the strength of the Masonic secret society, of which the sculptor, the French Fréderic-Auguste Bartholdi (1834-1904) was a member. Work began in 1875 and required ten years.
The “shell” was made with 80 tons of Norwegian copper, which, beaten by hand, resulted in the forms of the great lady. The process resembled a jigsaw puzzle with many pieces, mounted on a steel structure designed by Alexandre Gustave Eiffel (the same person who built the famous Parisian tower).
The statue’s face was inspired by the features of Bartholdi’s mother. In 1885, all ready and clinking, measuring 46.50 meters and weighing almost 225 tons, the statue had to be disassembled and packed in 214 boxes before being shipped to New York, where it reigns on a masonry pedestal erected by the Americans on Liberty Island – then known as Bedloe’s.
The inauguration took place on October 28, 1886, with the presence of then-President Grover Cleveland, rain and a military parade. “Liberdade Iluminando o Mundo” is the baptismal name of the woman with the torch in her hand – an emblematic image that competes with that of Uncle Sam and the country’s own flag among the best-known American symbols in the rest of the planet. Including the base, the colossus reaches 93 meters. In his left hand, a tablet marks the Independence Day of the USA – July 4, 1776.
On the pedestal, the poem The New Colossus by Emma Lazarus reads, with the lines: «Bring to me the weary, the poor, the confused masses yearning to breathe freedom». About 4.2 million visitors answer the call annually.
mother’s face The sculptor Fréderic-Auguste Bartholdi would have used two very special models to compose the look of the glorious statue: the mother, Charlotte, who inspired the features of the face, and the bride, from whom he copied the silhouette of the body.
French modeling Still in France, wooden and plaster molds were used to turn the 300 copper plates that make up the “shell” of the statue. The seven-pointed crown, the torch and the book are Masonic symbols
Home delivery The French gift was packed for travel and shipped to New York at the port of Rouen in June 1885 – it barely made it, victim of storms on the high seas. Inaugurated in 1886, the statue underwent two reforms: in 1938, and in 1986, its centenary.
Base, skeleton and skin
Assembly of the statue had three steps
1. The pedestal was built by the Americans between 1884 and 1885. Its pillars were built around the walls of an old fort, which was filled with an immense volume of concrete
2. The skeleton of Lady Liberty is made of iron: a structure designed by Gustave Eiffel (the Parisian tower), erected around a central pillar, which supports diagonal bars to fix the copper plates
3. The copper plates that form the outer layer were riveted together. Inside, there is a staircase with 354 steps (the internal elevator only goes up to the platform, just below the feet of the statue)