The French sculptor Frederic Auguste Bartholdi was assigned to design and complete a sculpture Liberty Enlightening the World within 1876so that it could be a gift for the Americans on the occasion of the hundredth anniversary of the American Declaration of Independence. The statue was a joint venture between the USA and France. The French people would build the statue and adsemble it in the States,and the people of the USA were to build the pedestal for the statute.
Raiding money for the pedestal was completed in August 1885.The construction of the pedestal was finished in April 1886. In the meantime,France completed the statue in July 1884.They sent it to New York on Board the French War ship'Isere' in 1885. While transporting the statue, it was split up into 350 pieces and packed in 214 crates.
It took four months to put the Statue togather and place it on the pedestal. Thousand of people saw the unveiling ceremony of the Statue of Liberty on 28 October 1886.It was a centennial gift ten years late.
The freedom that the Statue stands for is not stationary. The broken chain Wrapped around her feet,sticking out from the bottom of her robe,stmbolizes her free forward movement, enlightening the world with her torch,free from oppression and slavery.
The Statue's original torch was the first part constructed in 1876. It was replaced by a new copper torch covered in 24K gold leaf in 1984.The torch is lightes by flood light at night.The otiginal torch is currently located in the lobby of the monument. Access to the torch has been closed since 1916.
From 28 October 2011,on her 125th anniversary, the Statue of Liberty was also named "Liberty Enlightening the World Wide Web". The credit goes to a series of new web cams placed around her torch. Several amazing views woll be just a click of a mouse away.On clear days, three cameras provide unobstructed views of scenes far and near. Two cameras provide an ultra wid-angle interactive views of the famous golden torch.The remaining camera looks downwards towards the crown of The Statue of Liberty, her face and the tablet she is holding.So a person can have access to the web cam's live feed of The Statue of Liberty from anywhere in the world.