A Big Gift

The Statue of Liberty may be one of the biggest presents in history! In 1886, France gave the United States a huge statue. It is a woman holding a torch high in the air. The torch is a symbol of freedom. The gift was given to remember the important friendship between the two countries. One hundred years earlier, France had helped America in its war for freedom from Britain.

A French sculptor was chosen to design the statue. It was a very difficult job because of its size. He decided to make her skin out of thin copper sheets. Then he would attach them to a metal frame. He asked an engineer to design and build the huge frame. That engineer’s name was Gustave Eiffel. He would later build the famous Eiffel Tower in Paris, France.

The statue was too big to fit on a ship. So it was reduced to 350 pieces and taken to America in many separate boxes. The builders chose a small island in New York Harbor as the place to put the statue. The statue was a gift. However, the US needed to build a base for her to stand on.

People from all over America sent money to help build it. The base was finished in the spring of 1886. They began to put the pieces of the statue together. When the statue was finished, it was the tallest structure in America. She stands over forty-six meters high. Just one of her fingers is 2.4 meters long!

The statue faces the ocean to welcome ships as they sail into New York. Each year, thousands of visitors come to the island to see her. They can even climb the 354 steps up into her crown and look out the windows! She is a symbol of freedom for people all over the world. After all, it’s in her name. The word “liberty” means freedom.