Statue of Liberty (Famous Monument)

Historical Context

The Statue of Liberty or in full Liberty Enlightening the World was first proposed by the French thinker Édouard René de Laboulaye as a gift from the French people to America and to commemorate the abolition of slavery.

Designed by the French sculptor Frédéric Bartholdi, construction began in 1870 with Gustave Eiffel designing and building the interior metal framework. The statue was completed in France before being disassembled and shipped to America in 1885. It was then reassembled on what was then called Bedloe Island (now Liberty Island) in New York Harbour and dedicated by President Grover Cleveland in 1886.

The statue depicts Liberty striding forward with a torch raised in her right hand, her left holds a tabula ansata with the date of the declaration of independence. Emma Lazarus's poem "The New Colossus" composed to raise money for the statue was inscribed inside the pedestal in 1903 with its famous lines " "Give me your tired, your poor, Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,". The monument is now not only a symbol of Liberty but of the city of New York and America itself. It became a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1984.

Monument Info

Photographer: Spc. Sarah Martens
Location: Liberty Island, New York, USA
Source: U.S. Army Reserve

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