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A GIFT OF FRANCE TO THE UNITED STATES - STATUE OF LIBERTY, NEW YORK HARBOR: Some years before the United States celebrated the 100th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence , a group of prominent Frenchmen proposed that the people of France should commemorate that event by presenting a gigantic statue of Liberty to the people of the United States. The project found instant favor in France, and 180 cities, 40 general councils, many societies, and thousands of individuals contributed to the fund of about $700,000 which was necessary to bring the statue to completion. A distinguished French sculpture, Frederic August Bartholdi, was commissioned to do the work. Only the forearm of the mighty bronze monument was completed in time to be exhibited at the Centennial Exposition in Philadelphia in 1876; the head was shown at the Paris Exposition of 1878. A site for the statue was set aside on Bedloe's Island, New York Harbor, and here a pedestal, 89 feet in height and 62 feet square at the base, was erected by a popular subscription raised in America. In 1881, on the centenary anniversary of the surrender of Yorktown to the allied American and French armies, the base and framework of the statue were put together in Paris, but it was not entirely completed until several years thereafter. It was shipped from Rouen, France, in June 1886, and unveiled in New York Harbor on October 28 of that year. This superb monument to the friendship of two great peoples, the most conspicuous object seen by ocean travelers on entering or leaving New York, is truly colossal. Its height from base to torch is 151 feet, and from the foundation of the pedestal to the torch, 305 1-2 [1/2] feet. The weight of the metal is 225 tons, and 40 people can stand within the head.
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A GIFT OF FRANCE TO THE UNITED STATES - STATUE OF LIBERTY, NEW YORK HARBOR: Some years before the United States celebrated the 100th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence , a group of prominent Frenchmen proposed that the people of France should commemorate that event by presenting a gigantic statue of Liberty to the people of the United States. The project found instant favor in France, and 180 cities, 40 general councils, many societies, and thousands of individuals contributed to the fund of about $700,000 which was necessary to bring the statue to completion. A distinguished French sculpture, Frederic August Bartholdi, was commissioned to do the work. Only the forearm of the mighty bronze monument was completed in time to be exhibited at the Centennial Exposition in Philadelphia in 1876; the head was shown at the Paris Exposition of 1878. A site for the statue was set aside on Bedloe's Island, New York Harbor, and here a pedestal, 89 feet in height and 62 feet square at the base, was erected by a popular subscription raised in America. In 1881, on the centenary anniversary of the surrender of Yorktown to the allied American and French armies, the base and framework of the statue were put together in Paris, but it was not entirely completed until several years thereafter. It was shipped from Rouen, France, in June 1886, and unveiled in New York Harbor on October 28 of that year. This superb monument to the friendship of two great peoples, the most conspicuous object seen by ocean travelers on entering or leaving New York, is truly colossal. Its height from base to torch is 151 feet, and from the foundation of the pedestal to the torch, 305 1-2 [1/2] feet. The weight of the metal is 225 tons, and 40 people can stand within the head.
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