The Statue of Liberty is one of the most if not the most famous monuments in the world anyone visiting New York City can see er but not everyone knows that Lady Liberty has her own secrets one of them is she might not even be a lady at all counting down from
Number 9 : The Statue of Liberty Was Once Split Into Pieces
It’s really hard to picture it but the Statue actually arrived from France on June 17th 1885 in over 300 copper pieces the precious cargo was traveling in 214 crates on the friendship is there the iconic arm holding the torch wasn’t there however it was standing in Madison Square Park for six years to help raise money to sponsor the pedestal when the ship carrying the statue arrived 200,000 people came to welcome it to the US the official dedication ceremony took place on October 28 1886 with President Grover Cleveland presiding over it.
Number 8: It Was One Of History’s First Crowdfunding Campaigns
First French sculptor Frederic Auguste Abarth Pauli raised funds in his country to build a statue it wasn’t actually sponsored by the local government when it was finished the sculptor offered it as a gift to the US on one condition they would build a pedestal for the federal government didn’t like the idea so the status of the statue was unclear for a few years then American newspaper magnate Joseph Pulitzer stepped in he basically started one of the first massive crowdfunding campaigns in history promising every contributor an honorary shout-out in his newspapers even though 80% of the donations were small ones from middle-class citizens Pulitzer managed to collect the necessary amount from over 120 thousand donors by the way the famous sonnet the new Colossus which can still be found on a bronze plaque inside the statue was also part of the fundraising campaign.
Number 7: The Statue of Liberty Wasn’t Always Green
The Statue of Liberty is made of copper so it was originally about the same color as a penny according to the New York Historical Society it turned completely green because of oxidation in 1920 there was a time when it was half brown in half green the new color survived the restoration and they say the coating called patina won’t ever disappear.
Number 6: It Used To Serve as a Lighthouse
The statue was originally supposed to serve as a lighthouse for ships sailing into New York Harbor and 2 years after it arrived in the u.s. it actually became one for 16 years the statues lamp served as a beacon but it wasn’t bright enough and running out of ideas to fix it Bartoli offered to cover the entire statue in gold to make it brighter Congress said no to that idea since it would have been crazy expensive
Number 5: It’s All About Number Seven
It’s easy to notice the statue has seven Spikes on its crown symbolizing Universal Liberty across the seven oceans and continents the less obvious reference to the number seven is in the number of windows in its head there are 25 of them which makes seven if you add up the digits there are sixteen leaves around the torch and the monument itself is 151 feet tall the sum of both of those digits is 7 as well clearly that number meant a lot for the statues creators.
Number 4: The Constructions Supporting The Statue Was Designed By Gustave Eiffel
The pedestal of the Statue of Liberty was built in old fort wood on Liberty Island it currently hosts museums that show the history of the statue with old photographs videos recorded oral histories and the original torch Lady Liberty was holding in 1886 famous engineer Alexander Gustave Eiffel sound familiar help design the steel internal framework to keep the statues stable it’s strong enough to withstand around 600 bolts of lightning a year when the wind is high the statue can sway by around 3 inches and it’s torch about five inches 354 steps lead up to the crown of Lady Liberty which is open to visitors but the torch is off-limits speaking of visiting the Statue have you ever been there I have and walked all those 300 some steps to inside her head and looked out through those cool windows it was kind of claustrophobic and very cool.
Number 3: It Might Have Masonic Ties
There’s a popular theory claiming that the Statue of Liberty was originally supposed to be dressed as an Arab peasant woman and stand at the southern opening of Egypt Suez Canal the ruler of Egypt couldn’t afford it so Bartoli redesigned it giving it a different dress and a new name and sent it as a gift to the American people to celebrate the anniversary of the American Revolution so what does that have to do with the Masons well bartoli himself was a freemason he represented the French Grand Orient temple Masons hence his interest in Egypt he supposedly wanted to put the statue there to symbolize the Orient showing the way the torch Lady Liberty is holding is an important symbol in the Masonic culture as the torch of enlightenment or the flaming torch of reason the Masons also took part in the cornerstone laying ceremony in 1884 and the Grand Master William a Brody presided over it in the company of Grand Lodge members.
Number 2: The Face of The Statue of Liberty Could Be That of a Man
When you think of the Statue of Liberty do you see it as a she most people are positive it’s a representation of the Roman goddess of freedom Libertas the widely accepted theory is that Bartoli modeled her face after his mother author and journalist Elizabeth Mitchell however claims that the sculptor actually used his brother’s face as a model as she was studying the photographs of bartholdi’s family the writer noticed his mother had a different eyebrow shape thinner nose and lips and smaller mouth then she pointed out the striking resemblance between the sculptors brother in his adult years and the statue because of his mental health condition bartholdi’s brother spent years at the hospital and Frederic would spend hours watching him that could have helped him recreate his face in every detail another theory was presented by French writer Nathalie Salman who claims Lady Liberty was modelled after her ancestor Sarah Salman according to her Bart Foley saw Sarah’s features particularly beautiful even though she had emigrated to the United States she and her husband visited the sculptor at his studio when they briefly went back to Paris in 1875 he could have used that opportunity to draw Sarah and later use those images as a model.
Number 1: There’s More Than one Statue of Liberty
I’m not talking about its plastic souvenir versions or the one on Las Vegas Boulevard you can find a smaller Statue of Liberty which was the original model for its big sister in the Jardin du Luxembourg in Paris it’s been there since 1906 after Bartoli gave it to the Luxembourg Museum for the World’s Fair of 1911 was erected on an island in the Seine River to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the French Revolution in 1889 it has two dates on it July 4th 1776 and July 14 1789 symbolizing the friendship of two nations and the importance of revolution there’s also a life-sized copy of the torch on the point allama in Paris people from around the world sponsored its construction as a symbol of franco-american friendship it was set not far from the Eiffel Tower on the 100th anniversary of the statues dedication hey if you learn something new today then give this video a like and share it with a friend