History of the Statue of Liberty
                     History of 
the Statue 
of Liberty
INTRODUCTIO
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On July 4, 1884 France presented the United States with an 
incredible birthday gift: the Statue of Liberty! Without its 
pedestal it’s as tall as a 15-story building. 
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Statue of 
Liberty
She represents the United States. But the world-famous 
Statue of Liberty standing in New York Harbor was built in 
France. The statue was presented to the U.S., taken apart, 
shipped across the Atlantic Ocean in crates, and rebuilt in the 
U.S. It was France’s gift to the American people.
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The Idea 
Behind This
It all started at dinner one night near Paris in 1865. A group 
of Frenchmen were discussing their dictator-like emperor and 
the democratic government of the U.S. 
They decided to build a monument to American freedom—
and perhaps even strengthen French demands for democracy 
in their own country. 
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Meaning
At that dinner was the sculptor Frédéric-Auguste Bartholdi 
(bar-TOLE-dee). He imagined a statue of a woman holding a 
torch burning with the light of freedom.
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How it was 
built?
Turning Bartholdi’s idea into reality took 21 years. French 
supporters raised money to build the statue, and Americans 
paid for the pedestal it would stand on. Finally, in 1886, the 
statue was dedicated.
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Crossing the 
Atlantic
For its trans-Atlantic voyage aboard the frigate Isère, the 
Statue was reduced to 350 individual pieces and packed in 
214 crates. The ship arrived in New York Harbor on June 17, 
1885. 
While awaiting construction of its pedestal, the Statue 
remained in pieces on what was then called Bedloe’s Island. 
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Story of the 
Statue of 
Liberty
The story of the Statue of Liberty and her island has been 
one of change. For centuries the island was a major source of 
food for the Lenape native people and later Dutch settlers.
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The Statue of 
Liberty's Original 
Torch
As Bartholdi envisioned it in 1874, the flame of the Statue’s 
torch was not to be lighted but rather made of solid copper 
sheet and gilded to shine brightly in daylight. But in during 
its first half-century, the torch underwent numerous 
modifications. 
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The Statue of 
Liberty's Original 
Torch Cont.
When the Statue was dedicated in 1886, two rows of 
portholes had been cut from the copper at the bottom of the 
torch to illuminate it from inside. 
Six years later, an 18-inch belt of glass replaced the upper 
row of portholes and an octagonal pyramidal skylight with 
red, white and yellow glass was installed on top of the flame.
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