Statue of Liberty

Name of monument: Statue of Liberty

Nicknames: Miss Liberty, The Green Lady

Location: Liberty Island, New York Harbor

Built Between: 1884-1886

Weight: 225 tons (excluding the pedestral)

Height: 152 ft

Length: Foot 20 ft, Hand 16.5 ft, Ear 2.5 ft, Mouth 3 ft.

     The Statue of Liberty is a colossal neoclassical sculpture designed by the Frenchman Frédéric Auguste Bartholdi. It was built by Gustave Eiffet and dedicated on October 28, 1886.

     It represents a gift to the Unites States from the people of France.

     The statue is of a robed female figure representing Libertas, the Roman goddess, who bears a torch and a tabula ansata (a tablet evoking the law) upon which is inscribed the date of the American Declaration of Independence, July 4, 1776. A broken chain lies at her feet. The statue is an icon of freedom and of the United States, and was a welcoming sight to immigrants arriving from abroad.

     A ceremony of dedication was held on the afternoon of October 28, 1886. President Grover Cleveland, the former New York governor, presided over the event. On the morning of the dedication, a parade was held in New York City; estimates of the number of people who watched it ranged from several hundred thousand to a million. President Cleveland headed the procession, then stood in the reviewing stand to see bands and marchers from across America. General Stone was the grand marshal of the parade.

     "Give me your tired, your poor/Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free", that is inscribed on a plaque in the museum in its base.