STATUE OF LIBERTY FACTS

The Statue of Liberty was dedicated on October 28, 1886. 

1. Officially it is named “Liberty Enlightening the World”.
2. The sculptor was Frederic-Auguste Bartholdi. He modelled the face after his mother.  Alexandre-Gustave Eiffel was the structural engineer.
3. The crown has 25 windows and seven spikes, one for each of the seven seas and seven continents.
4. The tablet has the date July 4, 1776 engraved in Roman numerals.
5. It is 151 feet from the pedestal to the tip of the torch. It is 305 feet from the ground to the torch.  It is 354 stair steps from the ground to the crown.
6. The hand is 16 ½ feet long.  The sandals are 25 feet long (or size 879).
7. It weighs 225 tons.
8. It was used as a lighthouse from 1886-1902.
9. The stairs to the torch were shut down after the Black Tom Island sabotage explosion of 1916.
10. Libertas is the Roman goddess of freedom.
11. The idea for the gift came from Edouard de Laboulaye. He meant for it to commemorate the American Revolution and the abolition of slavery.  He hoped it would inspire the French people to fight against the tyranny of Napoleon III.
12. The statue is hit by about 600 lightning bolts each year.
13. Emma Lazarus wrote her poem “The New Colossus” in 1883. It was put on a bronze plaque at the statue in 1903.
14. The island was originally called Bedloe Island. In 1956, it was renamed Liberty Island.

                –  Amazing 499-500

                –  https://www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/destinations/north-america/united-states/new-york/articles/statue-of-liberty-fascinating-facts/