The Statue of Liberty had been closed since the terrorist attacks in September, two thousand one. New York officials called the re-opening a sign of the recovery of the city and the country.
The Statue of Liberty represents a woman holding a torch of fire. It stands on an island at the entrance to the New York City harbor. It is almost ninety-three meters tall, one of the tallest statues ever built. Its complete name is "Liberty Enlightening the World".
The Statue of Liberty was a gift to the people of the United States from the people of France. It was an expression of friendship and the goal of liberty shared by the people of both countries.
The idea for the statue came from a French history expert in eighteen sixty-five. Six years later, artist Frederic Bartholdi traveled to the United States to seek support for building the statue. He decided it should stand on an island in New York harbor.
Bartholdi began designing the statue when he returned to France. He designed the woman’s face to look like his mother’s. French officials organized a group to raise money and supervise the project. The French people gave four hundred thousand dollars to build the statue. In eighteen seventy-seven, the Americans established a similar committee to raise money needed to build the statue’s base.
The statue was built in France. Bartholdi had hoped it would be ready on the one hundredth anniversary of the American Declaration of Independence in eighteen seventy-six. But it was not. France officially presented the statue to the United States Minister to France in Paris on July fourth, eighteen eighty-four.
The statue was then taken apart and sent to the United States.