Little Blue Birdie's Diary

Face to face with Lady Liberty

Dear Diary,

We are meeting you for the first time in the new year. So, let me wish you a very Happy New Year on behalf of our travelling group! You must be eager to know where we have been flying during the season. We will not disappoint you. Even the heavy snow could not stop us from flying. We flew all the way to the United States of America to see Lady Liberty. So, join us today to know more about her.

The rather large Statue of Liberty was a gift from France to the United States in 1886. It is placed at Liberty Island, in the New York Harbour. It seems as if it is giving a warm welcome to all visitors, immigrants, and returning Americans.

The copper-plated statue, which was presented to the United States on October 28, 1886, is a birthday gift to the USA and is a sign of friendship between France and America. The great sculptor of this statue is Frederic Augusta Bartholdi, who also owns the patent for making this statue. Designer of the Eiffel Tower, Alexander Gustavo Eiffel, engineered the internal structure.

The statue represents a female figure, dressed in a robe and a seven-point spiked ray head-dress representing a nimbus (aura), holding a stone tablet close to her body in her left hand and a flaming torch high in her right hand. The tablet bears the words "JULY IV MDCCLXXVI" (July 4, 1776), the date when the United States declared its Independence.

The statue is made of a sheeting of pure copper, hung on a framework of steel with the exception of the flame of the torch, which is coated in gold leaf. It stands atop a rectangular stonework pedestal with a foundation in the shape of an irregular eleven-pointed star.

The statue is 46.5 m tall, with the pedestal and foundation adding another 46.9 m. The statue's original torch was the first part constructed in 1876. In 1984 it was replaced by a new copper torch covered in 24K gold leaf which is flood lit at night. The original torch is currently located in the lobby of the monument. Access to the torch has been closed since 1916.

You can hardly find somebody who has not heard about the Statue of Liberty. When you talk about the United States, one of the first things that will come to your mind is the statue. It's like an icon for the United States and represents liberty and escape from domination.

The Statue of Liberty was, from 1886 until the jet age, often one of the first glimpses of the United States for millions of immigrants as well as those flying back to the United States.

The Statue of Liberty's features (Roman stole, sandals, and facial expression) have been obtained from Libertas, ancient Rome's goddess of freedom from slavery and domination. Her raised right foot is on the move.

This is a symbol of liberty and freedom; it does not show her standing still or at attention in the harbour; she is moving forward. The broken chains at her feet symbolise the freedom of the United States from domination. The seven spikes on the crown represent the seven seas and seven continents. Her torch signifies enlightenment. The tablet in her hand shows the date of the nation's birth, July 4, 1776.

The general appearance of the statue's head and dress (robe) is similar to a representation of the Greek Sun-god Apollo or Helios that has been preserved on an ancient marble tablet (today in the Archaeological Museum of Corinth, Greece).

Apollo was represented as a solar god dressed similarly to the statue's robe and having on its head the seven-point spiked rays of the Helios-Apollo's sun-rays, like the Statue's aura. Since 1903, the statue, also known as "Lady Liberty," has been associated with Emma Lazarus's poem 'The New Colossus'.

Join us in our next journal too, to visit another fantastic sight. Until then, bye!

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