10 Things You May Not Know about the Statue of Liberty

The Statue of Liberty is a colossal neoclassical sculpture on Liberty Island in New York Harbor in New York City in the United States. The Statue of Liberty is as tall as a 15-story building and was an incredible birthday gift from France to the United States. The statute was shipped across the Atlantic Ocean in crates and rebuilt on the island.

You may know that the Statue of Liberty was dedicated on October 28, 1886, and is 305 feet (93 meters) tall, including the statue and the base. However, there are certain facts about this monument that you might not know. These are ten interesting things about the Statue of Liberty.

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10 It Was Originally Meant for the Entrance of the Suez Canal

Today, the Statue of Liberty is a monument of national pride to the United States, but it was not originally meant to be in the U.S. In fact, the country that might have owned the Statue of Liberty was Egypt.

The Statue of Liberty was the brainchild of Frédéric Auguste Bartholdi, who had visited Egypt as a young man and was enchanted by the project underway to dig a channel between the Mediterranean and the Red Sea. In 1867, at Paris’s World’s Fair, he had the chance to meet the leader of Egypt, where Bartholdi proposed the idea of creating artwork that would be as wondrous as the pyramids of Egypt. He then designed the statue of a colossal woman holding up a lamp and standing as a lighthouse to the Suez Canal.

The Egypt deal fell through because the Suez Canal suffered construction problems and delays, and the Egyptian government did not want to part with a huge amount of money that the statue was going to gulp. Bartholdi was, however, determined to make the statue, and another opportunity eventually appeared: the United States. This is how the statue came to stand in the U.S. ^[1]

9 A Replica Caused a Record Mistake

The United States Postal Service wanted to use the Statute of Liberty as the symbol of its “Forever” stamp, but there was a huge mistake. The photo on the stamp was not the real Statute of Liberty in New York; instead, it was the photo of the replica in Las Vegas. Oops!

The reason why the Postal Service fell for the replica is not far-fetched—it is the more good-looking statute. By the time the error was identified by Sunipix, a stock photo agency in Texas, ten and a half billion of the stamps had already been produced. To date, this has become the largest run of an error on a postage stamp.

The stamp was also an instant hit with the American public. In 2013, the sculptor of the Las Vegas “Statute of Liberty,” Robert S. Davidson, sued the United States Postal Service. In 2018, a federal Judge ordered the USPS to pay Robert S. Davidson $3,548,470.95 for copyright infringement.^[2]

8 It Did Not Always Have a Green Color

The green color of the Statute of Liberty can be seen from afar. The irony is that the artist who created it never had the green color in mind. When the statue was gifted to the United States, it had a reddish-brown copper color. The constant exposure to the elements of weather allowed oxidation to take place, which changed its color to green.

Authorities wanted to repaint it to its original color in 1906, but the move was not well-received by members of the public. So the painting was not carried out. As of today, the Statute of Liberty has not been repainted, and hopefully, it won’t be in the future.^[3]

7 Someone Hoped the Statue Would Help France Become a Democracy

Édouard de Laboulaye was a prominent and important political thinker of his time. He believed in democracy as an ideal. Laboulaye, elected member of parliament in 1871, became the leader of the center-left, the mainspring of politics at a crucial time when the country was wavering between a republic and constitutional monarchy.

In 1865, following the recent victory of the Union over the Confederates in the United States—a war that reaffirmed the United States’ commitment to freedom and democracy, Laboulaye came up with the idea of presenting a monument to the United States.

He believed it would help strengthen the cause of democracy in his country, France. Some years later, with the help of a friend and sculptor—Bartholdi—Laboulaye was able to turn his dream into reality when the Statue of Liberty was erected in the U.S.^[4]

6 The Statue Changed the Name of an Island

Liberty Island was not always known by that name—it was originally known as “Oyster Island”—because it was a major food source due to its large population of oysters. Isaac Bedloe, a Dutch colonist, secured ownership of Oyster Island in 1667. In 1669, an English Royalist and the second governor of the New York colony, Governor Francis Lovelace, requested that Isaac rename it “Love Island.” A few years later, in 1673, Isaac Bedloe died, and Governor Lovelace was overthrown by the Dutch.

After the English governor was overthrown, the island’s name was changed from “Love Island” to “Bedloe’s Island.” Bedloe’s widow later sold the island to two New York merchants to avoid bankruptcy. Ultimately, the New York City administration took possession of the island, which was turned into a quarantine station to inspect arriving ships for disease. It also served as housing for Tory refugees during the Revolutionary War before being transferred to federal government use as a military fort in 1800. Fort Wood was completed in 1811.

In 1871, the artist and sculptor Bartholdi toured the United States for potential locations for the Statute of Liberty and chose Bedloe’s Island as the most suitable spot. The statute was assembled on the island in 1886. The Statue of Liberty was declared a national monument by President Calvin Coolidge in 1924, and Bedloe’s Island was renamed Liberty Island in 1956 in honor of the national monument.^[5]

5 The Torch Has Been Swapped for a New One

The Statue of Liberty is a woman holding a torch in a hand raised above her head. While every other part of the monument is still original, the torch is not. Having endured a century of wear and tear and sometimes poorly executed renovations, the decision was made to swap the torch for a new one. The torch was replaced in 1985.

The original torch was then put on display inside the statue’s pedestal. However, in 2018, the original torch was moved to a new home inside the new Statute of Liberty Museum on Liberty Island. The museum opened its doors on May 16, 2019, and was conceived to enhance the visitor experience by providing a deeper understanding of the iconic statue’s history, symbolism, and cultural significance. It offers a range of exhibits, including the torch, multimedia displays, and immersive galleries that explore the statue’s creation, construction, and legacy.^[6]

4 The Eiffel Connection

Gustave Eiffel is a French engineer primarily known for being the brain behind the Eiffel Tower. However, fewer people know about his connection to the Statue of Liberty. When the Statue of Liberty’s initial designer, Eugène Viollet-le-Duc, suddenly passed away in 1879, Gustave Eiffel was hired as his replacement.

Eiffel commended and retained Eugène Viollet-le-Duc’s plans for sculpting and connecting the copper sheets; however, he changed Viollet-le-Duc’s plans for the interior designs in favor of a modern approach. Eiffel designed a tall, central pylon to be the primary support structure of the statue’s interior. Upon the approval of his design for the statue’s interior, Eiffel supervised its internal construction until its completion in late 1883.^[7]

3 The Statue Is Linked to the Roman Goddess of Freedom

Libertas, the Roman goddess of freedom, is one of the minor yet most popular Roman deities. The face of ‘Libertas” adorned several coins in the Roman era. As the personification of freedom, Libertas was the patron goddess of freed slaves. According to Roman tradition, when a master wanted to grant a slave his or her freedom, a ceremony was performed at the Temple of Liberty.

Surprisingly, “Libertas” would eventually become popular in American culture in the 1800s. Since the Statue of Liberty was meant to epitomize the freedom of people, abolition of slavery, and democracy, it was easy for the Statue of Liberty to draw inspiration from Libertas. The ancient artworks depicting Libertas as a goddess are very similar to the Statue of Liberty.^[8]

2 The Statue Is in Two States

One unique but little-known fact about the Statute of Liberty is that while the monument is within the territory of New York, the land beneath it and the surrounding water are within New Jersey’s territory.

The Statue of Liberty stands on Liberty Island, originally Bedloe’s Island. In 1834, New York and New Jersey reached an agreement over the ownership of the island now known as Liberty Island. While New York owns the Island, New Jersey maintains the water and submerged land surrounding the island. This creates a unique and unusual situation.^[9]

1 Thomas Edison Nearly Made the Statue Speak

Thomas Edison was the man who made audio recording possible. He was the first man to record sound and play it back—and the recording device called a phonograph was born, of course. Edison’s invention was a spin-off from his ongoing work in telephony and telegraphy.

The phonograph was produced some years before the Statue of Liberty was completed. So Edison attempted to develop a colossal phonograph that could be installed inside the Statue of Liberty and broadcast speeches that could be heard up to the northern part of Manhattan and across the bay. However, his plan was not approved.^[10]