3 Fun Facts You Didn't Know About the Statue of Liberty |
Posted: January 17, 2018 |
Many people are amazed at how large the Statue of Liberty is when they first see her stretching her torch 305 feet into the air. The Statue of Liberty has a fascinating story. Physical Size On her head is a 150 pound crown with each of the seven points representing the seven seas and the seven continents measuring up to nine feet tall. The statue weighs over 450,000 pounds despite the fact that the copper used to construct her is just over the thickness of two pennies. It was hand hammered into the desired shape and attached to her iron frame. There are other surprising facts that you may not know about the Statue of Liberty. The statue's copper patina holds her together making painting her impossible. Funding of the Statue of Liberty While you have probably been taught that the Statue of Liberty is a gift from the people of France to America, that is not the truth. In fact, designer Frédéric Auguste Bartholdi conceived of the notion to build the statue, and he first offered designed to mark the entrance to the Suez Canal in Egypt. The leaders there, however, turned down the idea, so Bartholdi went on to exhibit the statue in Paris. The citizens there did not embrace the idea, so he came on to America. He visited many different locations including exhibiting the Statue of Liberty's torch at Philadelphia before he finally convinced Americans that Ellis Island should be her permanent home. Funding remained a problem until he received help from newspaper magnate Joseph Pulitzer let Bartholdi sell the rights for people to have people pay a penny to get their names published in the newspaper. The money was then used to construct the Statue of Liberty in her present location. The Statue of Liberty was Supposed to be a Lighthouse As Bartholdi went around the country including stops in Boston, Philadelphia, Chicago and others looking for funding to erect the Statue of Liberty, President Ulysses Grant suggested that if Bartholdi could turn her into a lighthouse that the United States government could pay for her installation. It was an idea that President Grover Cleveland followed up with during his presidency when he ordered the Statue of Liberty to become a lighthouse. Despite several failed attempts to install electricity to the statue, workers finally succeeded in 1886 after building her own power plant. Visitors taking a Liberty Cruise can imagine her fulfilling this role. She remained a lighthouse for the next 16 years despite the fact that her lights could only be seen 24 miles away. After she stopped being a lighthouse, she was turned over to the United States War Department. Finally, she became the property of the United States National Park Service in 1937. The Statue of Liberty would never had happened except for Bartholdi's determination. After constructing the Statue of Liberty, he returned to Paris where he died in 1904 of tuberculosis. Now that you’re educated on it’s history, be sure to book a Liberty Cruise sightseeing tour next time you’re in NYC, so you can see it up close and in person!
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