Statue of Liberty Quiz

The Statue of Liberty is a colossal neoclassical sculpture located on Liberty Island in New York Harbor, gifted to the United States by the people of France and dedicated on October 28, 1886.

The statue is a figure of Libertas, the Roman Goddess of Liberty, holding a torch above her head with her right hand and carrying a tabula ansata inscribed JULY IV MDCCLXXVI in her left hand, commemorating the U.S. Declaration of Independence.

The statue was inspired by French law professor and politician Édouard René de Laboulaye, who proposed that any monument raised to U.S. independence would be a joint project of the French and American peoples.

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, but publisher Joseph Pulitzer 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 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.

Bartholdi and Laboulaye considered how best to express the idea of American liberty, and Bartholdi's early models were all similar in concept: a female figure in neoclassical style representing liberty, wearing a stola and pella and holding a torch aloft.

Bartholdi gave the figure bold classical contours and applied simplified modeling, reflecting the huge scale of the project and its solemn purpose.

Bartholdi made alterations in the design as the project evolved, including deciding to inscribe JULY IV MDCCLXXVI on the tablet, thus associating the date of the country's Declaration of Independence with the concept of liberty.

Viollet-le-Duc designed a brick pier within the statue, to which the skin would be anchored, and chose copper sheets and the method of repoussé to shape it.Construction of the Statue of Liberty: Fundraising and Design

• The French government and the Franco-American Union led by Édouard René de Laboulaye initiated fundraising efforts to build the statue, initially targeting the elites but eventually receiving contributions from schoolchildren, ordinary citizens, and municipalities.

• The French copper industrialist Eugène Secrétan donated 128,000 pounds of copper towards the construction of the statue, which required 200,000 pounds in total.

• The statue was designed by Frédéric Auguste Bartholdi, who began fabrication of the right arm bearing the torch and the head before plans for the statue were finalized.

• Gustave Eiffel and Maurice Koechlin designed an iron truss tower to support the statue and prevent cracking from wind and temperature changes, with Eiffel creating a secondary skeleton and connecting it to the skin with flat iron bars and a mesh of metal straps to provide support.

• The pedestal was designed by Richard Morris Hunt and is a truncated pyramid with classical and Aztec architectural elements, containing an observation platform near the top and facing southeast towards the Atlantic Ocean.

• The pedestal's construction began in 1883 and involved poured concrete walls faced with granite blocks, with the largest concrete mass poured at that time.

• Norwegian immigrant civil engineer Joachim Goschen Giæver designed the structural framework for the statue's frame from Gustave Eiffel's sketches and drawings.

• Fundraising efforts for the pedestal faced difficulties due to economic depression, criticism of Bartholdi's statue and of Americans having to pay for the pedestal, and a preference for realistic artworks depicting American history instead of allegorical works.

• The New York committee commissioned Hunt to design the pedestal and reduced its height from 114 to 89 feet due to money problems.

• Joseph Pulitzer's drive to raise $100,000 by printing the name of every contributor in his newspaper was successful, and the French steamer Isère arrived in New York in 1885 with the disassembled statue on board after five months of daily calls for donations.

• New Yorkers welcomed the ship with hundreds of boats and 200,000 people lining the docks, and the committee resumed work on the pedestal after raising enough funds.

• France raised about $250,000 to build the statue while the United States had to raise up to $300,000 to build the pedestal.The Statue of Liberty: History, Dedication, and Renovation

• The pedestal for the Statue of Liberty was funded by a successful fundraising campaign, with contributions from people in the United States and France.

• The statue was not completed until April 1886, and the skin was carefully attached to Eiffel's iron framework, with workers dangling from ropes due to the width of the pedestal.

• Floodlights on the torch's balcony were vetoed by the Army Corps of Engineers, so Bartholdi cut portholes in the torch and placed the lights inside.

• A ceremony of dedication was held on October 28, 1886, with President Grover Cleveland presiding over the event. No members of the general public were permitted on the island during the ceremonies, which were reserved entirely for dignitaries.

• The statue was transferred to the National Park Service in 1933, and the Works Progress Administration carried out restoration work within the statue.

• The statue was illuminated briefly during World War II and was lit every night, all night, starting in 1957.

• The statue was examined in great detail by French and American engineers as part of the planning for its centennial in 1986 and was found to be in need of considerable restoration.

• The Statue of Liberty-Ellis Island Centennial Commission was formed in 1982 to raise funds for the renovations of both the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island.

• The statue was closed to the public in 1984 for the duration of the renovation, and workers erected the world's largest free-standing scaffold, which obscured the statue from view.

• Liquid nitrogen was used to remove layers of paint that had been applied to the interior of the copper skin over decades.

• The restorers' work was hampered by the asbestos-based substance that Bartholdi had used to prevent galvanic corrosion, and workers within the statue had to wear protective gear.

• The statue was reopened to the public on July 5, 1986, as part of its centennial celebration, and the restoration received widespread praise.

• The statue remains a symbol of freedom and welcome to immigrants, with nearby Ellis Island serving as a reminder of the many people who entered the United States through New York and saw the statue as a sign of their new home.Summary Title: History, Renovations, Closures, Access, and Depictions of the Statue of Liberty

• The Statue of Liberty's copper skin was replaced in 1986 with copper from a rooftop at Bell Labs, and the torch was replaced with an exact replica of Bartholdi's unaltered torch.

• The entire iron armature designed by Gustave Eiffel was replaced with low-carbon corrosion-resistant stainless steel bars that hold the staples next to the skin.

• The statue and Liberty Island were closed to the public following the September 11 attacks, and the pedestal and statue remained off-limits until August 2004.

• The statue, including the pedestal and base, closed on October 29, 2011, and reopened on October 28, 2012, but then closed again a day later in advance of Hurricane Sandy.

• The Statue of Liberty has been closed due to government shutdowns and protests, as well as for disease pandemics, including the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020.

• The new Statue of Liberty Museum on Liberty Island opened on May 16, 2019, and is integrated with surrounding parkland.

• The statue is situated in Upper New York Bay on Liberty Island south of Ellis Island, which together comprise the Statue of Liberty National Monument.

• Visitors must use the concession granted to Statue Cruises to operate the transportation and ticketing facilities, and all ferry riders are subject to security screening prior to boarding.

• Visitors intending to enter the statue's base and pedestal must obtain pedestal access for a nominal fee, and those wishing to climb the staircase within the statue to the crown must purchase a special ticket, which may be reserved up to a year in advance.

• The Statue of Liberty was designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1984.

• Hundreds of replicas of the Statue of Liberty are displayed worldwide, including a smaller version on the Île aux Cygnes, facing west toward her larger sister.

• The statue has been depicted on the country's coinage and stamps, and it is a frequent subject in popular culture.