STATUE OF LIBERTY, History

Hi, my name’s Marcy, and I’m your personal guide. Along with MyWoWo, I’d like to welcome you to one of the Wonders of the World: the Statue of Liberty.

The Statue of Liberty, declared a World Heritage site in 1984, is probably the most famous statue in the world. It took Frédéric-Auguste Bartholdi 20 years to complete his work, a gift from France to the USA for the centenary of the Declaration of Independence, and it took a further year to assemble once it arrived, in pieces, in the port of New York.  

And so, in 1886, a little behind schedule, this huge, hollow, bronze statue, took up its place on Liberty Island, began greeting the millions of immigrants arriving in the city from Europe and earning it the popular nickname of the “mother of exiles”!

A century later, the monument underwent renovation, and while the Tablet of Law held in the Statue’s left hand remained unchanged, engraved with the date of the Declaration of Independence, July 4th, 1776, the torch in the right hand was replaced with a gold-plated replica....