Statue of Liberty

Standing on Liberty Island is the Roman goddess Libertas, she has symbolized freedom since October 28th 1886 when the French presented her as a gift to the people of the United States. With her right hand she holds aloft a torch and with the other a tablet stating the date of the American Declaration of Independence.

"Give me your tired, your poor, / Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, / The wretched refuse of your teeming shore. / Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me. / I lift my lamp beside the golden door." Extract of The New Colossus by Emma Lazarus - an American Jewish poet born in New York.

Although not part of the original vision for the Statue of Liberty, these words, inscribed on the statue's pedestal would have been apt for the waves of immigrants reaching American shores in the late 1800s and early 1900s. Her clever structure, lauded as a bridge between art and engineering, is as flexible as her many meanings.

Liberty stands at 305 feet with her pedestal, 151 feet without. Although not so high as the nearby skyscrapers, from her perch she appears to tower over Manhattan , an aquamarine colossus. Indeed the French sculptor, Frédéric Auguste Bartholdi built her in the vein of the great Colossus that was believed to have stood at Rhodes .

Underneath Liberty's robes, she is expertly engineered to weather harbour storms by Alexandre Gustave Eiffel, no prizes for guessing his most famous work. Eiffel designed a metal inner structure which loosely connects to the copper skin. This allows the metal to expand, contract and sway.

The French created Liberty, a gift to the American people, to commemorate the Franco-American alliance during the American Revolution, ten years late for the centenary of American independence in 1876 for which it was intended. It was a symbol of friendship and independence, similar to the French national moto: Liberté, égalité, fraternité (freedom, equality, brotherhood).

For the immigrants greeted by Lady Liberty after an exhausting journey, fleeing the ominous cloud gathering over Europe prior to the first world war, she represented freedom from oppression, safety and opportunity.

Construction of the statue took place in Paris over a period of nine years (1875 - 1884) and was sent in over 200 crates to US shores. It took a further two years before Liberty was unveiled after a series of fundraising issues to create the granite pedestal which was made by American architect Richard Morris Hunt.

The statue is Lady Liberty, throwing off the shackles of oppression, in her left hand she holds a tablet with the date of the Declaration of Independence inscribed and in her right hand a torch, symbolizing Enlightenment, there are broken chains that lay by her feet representing her breaking free of the chains of tyranny. The crown's seven spikes represent the Seven Seas across which liberty should reign.

Boats to Liberty Island, where the statue stands, leave from The Battery, so named after the artillery batteries stationed here to protect the city, now a stocky stone courtyard. The airport style security (bag checks and metal detectors) serves as a reminder of past infringements on the city, as well as the protectiveness of the American public of such an icon. One hundred million Americans can trace their roots to the immigrant journeys passing by Liberty.

It is possible to just visit the island, but options are available to enter the museum at the base and the pedestal observation deck, or to go inside the crown, but this has to be booked in advance and visitors must be aware of the 354 steps to the top.

Ellis Island, the immigration station nearby, was designated as part of the Statue of Liberty national monument in 1965, such is the link between the two. The boat trip encompasses a tour to Liberty Island and Ellis Island, and Ellis Island is worth a look. Piling into the entrance hall a mass of eagerness and noise, it is easy to imagine past crowds of immigrants doing the same. There is an interactive exhibit which encompasses the themes of travel and immigration, and the peopling of America. It recognises the contribution made by the many immigrants who tilled the land, fed the populace and built the country's cities and industry.

If you want to see the Statue of Liberty without paying, catch the FREE Staten Island ferry from lower Manhattan, it takes around 30 minutes to get to Staten Island and you get great views of Liberty, just make sure you have a good zoom on your camera if you want really good photo's.