Gifted by France and dedicated in 1886, the copper Statue of Liberty by Bartholdi with Eiffel’s iron armature became an emblem of freedom and immigration. Standing 93 m with pedestal on Liberty Island, she fused engineering innovation with symbolism. Conservation—from the 1986 centennial overhaul to ongoing corrosion control—preserves an icon of the American story.
Conceived by Édouard de Laboulaye after the U.S. Civil War, the monument was sculpted by Frédéric Auguste Bartholdi; Gustave Eiffel designed a pioneering iron armature and secondary framework supporting repoussée copper sheets. France funded the statue; U.S. fundraising built Richard Morris Hunt’s pedestal at Bedloe’s (now Liberty) Island.
Dedicated on 28 October 1886, the statue greeted arriving immigrants and soon became a visual shorthand for liberty, republicanism, and the Atlantic crossing. Poem lines from Emma Lazarus’s “The New Colossus” (installed 1903) reframed the symbol toward welcome and refuge.
Thin copper plates (c. 2.4 mm) are mechanically attached to an iron skeleton via saddles and armature bars, allowing thermal movement. The copper’s protective patina stabilizes corrosion; the torch was redesigned in the 1980s to seal against water ingress while restoring the original appearance with gilded flame.
The 1984–86 restoration replaced corroded iron with stainless steel armatures, dried the interior, and upgraded access. Ongoing work manages chloride contamination, galvanic interactions, and fatigue in high-wind elements. The new Statue of Liberty Museum (2019) enhances interpretation with the original torch.
Panoramas take in New York Harbor and lower Manhattan; pedestal and crown access are ticketed. The statue anchors narratives of emancipation, migration, and civic ideals—contested and renewed across successive generations.
