Statue of Liberty Facts

Statue of Liberty rising above New York Harbor, holding a torch in her raised right hand and a tablet in her left.

NPS

Name

The statue’s sculptor gave it the name, La Liberté éclairant le monde, “Liberty Enlightening the World.”

Location

The Statue of Liberty is on Liberty Island in New York Harbor.

Built

The Statue of Liberty was officially dedicated on October 28, 1886. It was constructed from 1875-1884 in France, disassembled and shipped to New York in 1885, where it was reassembled atop its pedestal.

Designers

Sculptor: Frédéric-Auguste Bartholdi
Architect (pedestal): Richard Morris Hunt
Engineer (statue): Eiffel and Company
Engineer (pedestal): General Charles P. Stone

 

The skyline of New York City as seen from the small windows inside the Statue of Liberty's Crown.

NPS

Height

Statue: 151 feet, 1 inch (46.05 m)
Pedestal: 154 feet (46.93 m)Total: 305 feet, 1 inch (92.9894 m)
From the ground, visitors climb 377 steps to reach the crown.
See Statue Statistics for more details about the statue’s features!

Weight

The statue has been estimated to weigh 560,000 pounds (254,000 kg), of which 179,200 pounds (81,300 kg) are copper. The pedestal weighs approximately 52 million pounds (23.59 million kg).

Cost

Combined, the statue and pedestal may have cost between $300,000 to $600,000 when they were constructed, roughly $17-22 million today.

Material

The exterior is made of copper. The copper turned green naturally due to oxidation.

How many visits?

Around 3.8 million people per year visit the Statue of Liberty.

 

Lady Liberty's outstretched right hand holding a torch topped by a 24k gold leaf-covered flame.

NPS

What is she holding?

Lady Liberty is holding a torch in her right hand, representing enlightenment. In her left arm, she cradles a tablet reading "July IV, MDCCLXXVI" (July 4, 1776), a reference to the Declaration of Independence.

Symbolism

Broken shackles and chains lie at her feet, symbolizing the abolition of slavery. Her right foot is raised to show that she carries the torch forward, representing enlightenment and freedom.

Quotes

“Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, the wretched refuse of your teeming shore. Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me, I lift my lamp beside the golden door!”

Emma Lazarus wrote these words in a poem called “The New Colossus” on November 2, 1883, as part of a fundraising campaign for the statue’s construction. The sonnet is commemorated in a plaque in the statue’s pedestal.

Why was the Statue of Liberty created?

French thinker Édouard de Laboulaye and sculptor Frédéric Auguste Bartholdi proposed the gift to celebrate the centennial of the United States, the end of the American Civil War, and friendship between the United States and France.

 

Several visitors listen as a park ranger talks about the history of the site, with the Statue of Liberty in the background.

NPS

How to visit

You must ride a ferry to reach the Statue of Liberty. Tickets are available for general access to the island and museum, to the statue’s pedestal, and for the statue’s crown. Ferries leave from The Battery, NY and Liberty State Park, NJ with stops at Liberty Island and Ellis Island. Reservations are limited and are booked through the park’s authorized ferry concessioner: Statue of Liberty Tickets & Tour Experiences - Statue City Cruises.

For more details about visiting the Statue of Liberty, see Things to Do.