Exploring the Construction and Architecture of the Statue of Liberty

Edouard de Laboulaye decided to give something to the United States to commemorate the Declaration of Independence and the developing friendship between France and America. He was also impressed by the abolition of slavery that took place in the United States. Frederic-Auguste Bartholdi began to build something out of this idea and decided to create a colossal structure, that is today known as the Statue of Liberty.

Frederic-Auguste Bartholdi began his work on building Lady Liberty and his design inspiration was a female figure from the neoclassical style of Libertas, the Roman Goddess of freedom. In the late 1860s, he worked to build a lighthouse at the northern entrance to the Suez Canal, and it had a robed female structure bearing a torch, which was symbolic of progress.

Under the guidance of Bartholdi, construction of the statue began in 1876. Building the arm that would hold the torch was the first part, which was completed the same year. After two years, the head and shoulders of the statue was completed and kept on display at the Paris Universal Exposition. Work on the statue was completed by 1884, but the construction of the pedestal was still ongoing and experienced a delay due to a shortage of funds.

The Statue of Liberty was built in France and in America, where France took responsibility for building the statue, and the pedestal was built in America. In order to build the structure, funds were raised in France through crowdfunding events, such as entertainment, lottery, public fee system, and more. The United States also did similar things in order to raise funds for the pedestal. When there was a shortage of funds in order to build the pedestal, Joseph Pulitzer placed an ad in the newspaper inviting readers to donate to the cause.

The Statue of Liberty is built on an iron frame with thin sheets of copper plastered over it. Over the years, the color of the statue has changed from shiny reddish brown to a blue-green shade due to corrosion. The flame of the torch had a copper coating but was taken down due to intensive corrosion of water and snow leaking through the window panes. It was then replaced by a gold leaf-coated torch and is now held by Lady Liberty.

The Statue of Liberty was built in France and arrived in New York on June 17, 1885. It was not easy to move the entire statue, so the structure was split into 350 individual pieces and packed in 214 crates to be shipped to the US. These crates were stored and preserved on Bedloe’s Island until the construction of the pedestal was complete.

Given its size, the Statue of Liberty had to be held on a strong base and therefore it was decided to build a pedestal. Richard Morris Hunt was looped in to work on the design of the pedestal. Originally, the pedestal was to reach a height of 114 feet, but due to financial constraints, the height was kept at 89 feet. The construction was expected to finish within 9 months but took slightly longer due to shortage of funds.

On October 28, 1886, the Statue of Liberty was officially inaugurated in the United States. Organized by the Franco-American Union and the New York City, the ceremony celebrated all the people who were involved in creating this glorious symbol of the state, the people of France and the United States.

The design on the Head of the Statue of Liberty was inspired by the Roman Goddess Libertas. This figure could be found in American coins, popular culture, and civic art. Representation of her was used symbolically back in the 19th century, and hence she was a great source of inspiration for Bartholdi.

From the top of the Pedestal, you can see the 162 stairs that were built narrow and steep in dimension. The steps are 9 inches in height and 8 inches in length. The staircase on the crown of the Statue of Liberty is a spiral one with one section ascending and the other side descending, allowing a safer flow of visitor traffic.