80 Interesting Statue of Liberty Facts You Don't Know!

Statue of Liberty Facts: The Statue of Liberty is a monument erected on Liberty Island in New York City, USA. The statue was unveiled on October 28, 1886, after a visit to the United States from France to mark the 100th anniversary of American independence. This statue of a woman standing with the flame of freedom in her right hand greets visitors entering the United States.

In the old days, people who came to America by boat from Europe first saw America through the statue of the Goddess of Freedom. Even today, the statue is considered one of the most important landmarks in the United States.

The 151 feet high statue of the Goddess of Freedom has a flame in its right hand and a book in its left hand. It is dated July 4, 1776. The base of the statue is 305 feet high and the 7 windows in the crown of the statue represent 7 continents of the world. The flame in the right hand represents light, while the book in the left hand represents knowledge. The painting "La Veret" by Jules Joseph Lefebvre in 1870 is similar to the "Statue of Liberty". The entire statue is made of 2.4 mm thick copper foil and is supported on the inside by iron/steel bars.

Interesting Facts About Statue of Liberty

• She has a 35-foot waistline.
• Lady Liberty wears a size 879 shoe.
• Two images of the statue appear on a $10 bill.
• UNESCO declared it a World Heritage Site in 1984.
• The Statue of Liberty is worth about 150 million dollars.
• Visitors have to climb 354 stairs to reach the statue’s crown.
• The Statue of Liberty was used as a lighthouse for about 16 years.
• The statue will be celebrating its 135th birthday on October 28, 2021.
• The head of the statue was displayed at the World's Fair in Paris in 1878.
• The robed female figure represents Libertas, the Roman goddess of freedom.
• The statue was again closed in 2012 due to the effects of Hurricane Sandy.
• Miss America, the comic book character, was granted her powers by the statue.
• The statue's face was said to be modelled on the sculptor's mother, Charlotte.
• It is also destroyed in the films Independence Day and The Day After Tomorrow.
• In 1982, it was discovered that the head had been installed two feet off-centre.
• There have been estimates that 600 lightning bolts hit the Statue of Liberty each year.
• Its height from the base of the pedestal foundation to the torch is 305 feet, 6 inches.
• The designer of the Eiffel Tower, Gustave Eiffel, help build the skeleton of the statue.

Historical Facts About Statue of Liberty

• The name of the Statue of Liberty island is Liberty Island, which is in New York Harbor.
• It took four months to reassemble the pieces of the Statue of Liberty on the Liberty Island.
• The Statue of Liberty is located at Liberty Island Manhattan, New York City, New York, U.S.A.
• Lady Liberty has Morton’s Toe. This is a condition where the second toe is longer than the big toe.
• The cost of building the statue and pedestal amounted to over $500,000, over $10m in today’s money.
• Edouard de Laboulaye provided the idea for the statue, while Frederic-Auguste Bartholdi designed it.
• Richard Morris, an American architect, designed Lady Liberty’s pedestal and built it in the year 1885.
• The Statue of Liberty is made of copper. It’s light green colour is due to the natural weathering of the copper.
• While building the Statue of Liberty, about 300 types of hammers were used for the different shapes of the statue.
• In 1944 the lights in the crown flashed “dot-dot-dot-dash” which in the Morse code means V, for Victory in Europe.
• In high winds, of 50mph or more, Lady Liberty can sway by up to three inches, while her torch can move five inches.
• Private boats are not allowed to dock at Liberty and Ellis Islands. Therefore the only way on is via the ferry system.
• There are various replicas of the statue, including a smaller version in Paris, and one on the Las Vegas Strip in Nevada.
• Liberty Island is federal property within the territory of the State of New York, even though it is closer to New Jersey.
• The full name of The Statue of Livery is “Liberty Enlightening the World.” In French, it is “La Liberté Éclairant le Monde”.

Creepy Facts About The Statue Of Liberty

• The statue’s most famous cinematic appearance was in the 1968 film Planet of the Apes, where it is seen half buried in sand.
• Groups in Boston and Philadelphia offered to pay the full cost of the construction of the statue, in return for its relocation.
• French and American people collected 2,250,000 francs ($250,000 U.S. dollars) to arrange fund for the construction of this statue.
• The Statue of Liberty faces south-east. It was placed facing south-east so that she can welcome the ships sailing into the harbour.
• The Statue was completed in France in July 1884 and arrived in New York Harbor on 17 June, 1885 onboard the French frigate "Isere."
• On October 28, 1886, President ‘Grover Cleveland’ oversaw the dedication of the Statue of Liberty in front of thousands of spectators.
• There are 7 rays on her crown, representing the 7 continents of the world. The length of each ray is 9 feet and weight around 150 pounds.
• Lady Liberty’s shoe size is 879. And at the feet of the statue are the broken shackles that represent freedom from oppression and tyranny.
• Two people have committed suicide by jumping off the statue, one in 1929 and the other in 1932, while many others have jumped and survived.
• The seven spikes on the crown represent the seven oceans and the seven continents of the world, indicating the universal concept of liberty.
• A person has to walk 354 steps from the pedestal to the head of the Statue of Liberty. There is way inside the statue to reach upto its head.
• The Americans and the French worked together to build this statue. The base was built by the Americans, while the French took charge of building her body.
• He also hoped the gift of the statue would inspire French people to fight for their own democracy in the face of a repressive monarchy under Napolean III.
• Earlier the name of the Liberty Island was Bedloe Island, but in 1956, the name was changed to Liberty Island. Later, Ellis Island was also declared a part of it.

Statue Of Liberty Facts for Kids

• Lady Liberty is thought to have been hit by around 600 bolts of lightning every year since she was built. A photographer captured this for the first time in 2010.
• “JULY IV MDCCLXXVI” is inscribed on the tablet in the left hand of Lady Liberty. It’s the date (i.e, July 4, 1776) of the signing of the declaration of independence.
• In transit, the Statue was divided into 350 pieces and packed in 214 crates. When the pieces of this statue reached in America, it took 4 months to re-assemble all the parts.
• In order to ship the statue from France to America, it was separated into 350 pieces which were packed in 214 crates, and transported to America in a French ship called Isere.
• The Statue of Liberty’s torch is made of copper, which was then plated with 24k gold. This is why it is not the same colour as the rest of the statue.The Statue of Liberty Facts
• Approximately 4.24 million people visited the statue in 2016. By way of comparison, around 6.1 million people visit the Eiffel Tower each year, and 3.5 million visit The London Eye.
• Lady Liberty is massive. She stands 111 feet (34 meters) tall, and reaches 305 feet (93 meters) if you include her pedestal and torch. That's the equivalent height of a 22-story building.
• Laboulaye proposed that a great monument should be given as a gift from France to the United States as a celebration of both the union’s victory in the American Revolution, and the abolition of slavery.
• The Statue of Liberty did serve as a functioning lighthouse from 1886 to 1902. An electric plant on the Liberty Island generated power for the light, which could be seen as far as 24 miles (38 kilometers) away.
• The French started building the Statue of Liberty in September 1875. Eleven years later, on 28 October 1886, the Statue of Liberty was dedicated to the American people. It was not until 1924, however, that it was declared a national monument.
• The Statue of Liberty underwent a multimillion-dollar renovation in the mid-1980s before being rededicated on July 4, 1986. During the renovation, Lady Liberty received that new torch we discussed, because the old one was corroded beyond repair.

Cultural Facts About Statue of Liberty

• The statue of Liberty was inspired by the Roman goddess called Libertas. She represents freedom from tyranny and oppression. The fire in her torch is said to be a symbol representing enlightenment. So, Lady Liberty carries enlightenment to the world.
• The Statue of Liberty has a full, proper name: The Statue of Liberty Enlightening the World. But you probably know her as the Statue of Liberty or Lady Liberty. But she also goes by Aunt Liberty, Green Goddess, Lady of the Harbor and Mother of Freedom.
• On May 16, 2019, the National Park Service opened the Statue of Liberty Museum. It's a freestanding museum with three gallery spaces: an immersive theater, an engagement gallery and an inspiration gallery. It's also home to the Statue of Liberty's original torch.
• The statue sustained minor damage in 1916 when German saboteurs set off an explosion during World War One. The torch-bearing arm suffered the most damage, with repair works costing $100,000. The stairs in the torch were then closed to the public for safety reasons.
• Today, the Statue of Liberty is a major attraction for visitors from all over the world. Nearly 4.5 million people make the trip to see her each year by ferry service. Ferry tickets include access to the Statue of Liberty Museum and Ellis Island National Museum of Immigration.
• Despite the positive meaning of the statue - American independence and the abolition of slavery - African Americans saw the statue as an ironic image of America; professing to be a country of freedom and justice for everyone regardless of race, despite racism and discrimination continuing to exist.
• The torch has been closed to the public since 1916, after the Black Tom explosion of July 30, 1916. While you can't climb to the torch, you can get a virtual view of and from the torch via Ellis Island's TorchCam. It's the next best thing to being there. And you don't have to climb all those stairs.

Information About Statue of Liberty

• The Statue of Liberty was designed by the French sculptor Frederic Auguste Bartholdi and built with the help of tons of workers. It took nine years to build this statue, and it was presented to America in the year 1886. It was given in honour of their success at abolishing slavery and creating a democracy.
• Construction on the statue began in France in 1875. Bartholdi's original goal was to complete the statue by 1876, in time for the centennial of the American Declaration of Independence. But the statue wasn't completed until July 1884. It was delivered from France in 350 pieces to New York Harbor in June 1885.
• Lady Liberty's not only tall, but she also weighs a ton, too. Well 31 tons (28 metric tons) to be exact. All the weight is from her iron-and-steel frame skeleton and from the 300 layers of hand-hammered copper coating that is 3/32 inches thick (about 2.5 millimeters). That's about the same thickness as two pennies placed together.
• Lady Liberty has some seriously large digits. Her hands are about 16.5 feet (5 meters) long, and her index fingers are 8 feet long (2.4 meters). Oh, and her sandals are 25 feet (7.6 meters) long, making her shoe size 879! The Statue of Liberty's hands are about 16.5 feet (5 meters) long, and her index fingers are 8 feet long (2.4 meters).
• We've already mentioned that the Statue of Liberty is coated with 31 tons (28 metric tons) of copper. So why is she green? That's because of the natural oxidation of that copper coating. When the Statue of Liberty was completed in 1886, she actually was more the color of a copper penny. But after about three decades, the oxidization took over and created the patina we know today.
• Lady Liberty gets struck by lightning many times each year. The National Park Service actually doesn't even know how often it happens. Because she's so tall, and made of metal, it makes her quite the lightning rod standing out in the middle of New York Harbor. But it's not quite as bad as it sounds. The Statue of Liberty is also grounded because of the massive concrete and granite pedestal she stands on.
• A quarter-scale bronze replica of Lady Liberty was erected in Paris in 1889 as a gift from Americans living in the city. The statue stands about 35 feet (10 meters) high and is located on a small island in the River Seine not far from Eiffel Tower. The Musée d'Orsay also has a 9.4-foot-tall (2.8-meter) copy cast by Bartholdi. Another bronze replica that same size is outside the Musée des Arts et Métiers.
• After the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, Liberty Island was closed for 100 days. And because of safety concerns, the Statue of Liberty was closed to visitors for three years. It wasn't until Aug. 3, 2004, that Lady Liberty was reopened, but only to the base of the statue. Visitors were still barred from climbing to the crown. That didn't reopen until July 4, 2009, nearly eight years after the terrorist attacks.
• One of the most popular attractions for tourists visiting the Statue of Liberty is climbing up her interior, all the way up to her crown, which has 25 windows overlooking New York City and the harbor. It's not a climb for the weak of heart. It's up a tight spiral staircase, but those who take it are rewarded with panoramic views of Brooklyn, as well as structural designer Alexandre Gustave Eiffel's original supporting iron-and-steel framework.
• The poem "The New Colossus" is etched into a bronze plaque located in the pedestal of the Statue of Liberty. The words "Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free" that we've come to equate with the Statue of Liberty are part of this sonnet, written in 1883 by fifth-generation American Jew Emma Lazarus. She wrote the poem at the request of a friend to be auctioned off to help raise funds for the statue's pedestal.
• As we mentioned, visitors can climb up to the crown of the Statue and get breathtaking views of New York harbor from the 25 windows. But the crown has a lot of meaning, too. It has seven points, which are meant to be a halo, and symbolize the seven continents and seven seas. She's also wearing shackles at her feet that are broken, representing her freedom from oppression. The Statue is holding a tablet in her left hand. It's inscribed with the date July 4, 1776 in Roman numerals (July IV MDCCLXXVI). The Statue of Liberty also faces southeast, which is a strategic position for ships entering the harbor to see her as a welcoming symbol.

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