Liberty Enlightening the World

Liberty Enlightening the World. . , In 1865, Frenchman Édouard de Laboulaye proposed the idea of presenting a monumental gift from the people of France to the people of the United States. A prominent political thinker in his time, Laboulaye had spent much of his political career pushing for the return of democracy to France and believed honoring the United States would strengthen that cause. The passage of the 13th Amendment abolishing slavery in the U.S. was especially noteworthy to him as a milestone proving justice and liberty for all was possible., Ten years later, with the help of friend and sculptor Frédéric- Auguste Bartholdi, Laboulaye turned his proposal into a reality when he announced plans for a statue to be named Liberty Enlightening the World and the formation of fundraising efforts through which the French people would finance the statue, while the American people would pay for the pedestal., Frédéric-Auguste Bartholdi spent years developing the design of the Statue of Liberty, and he incorporated symbolic elements. The Statue's crown represented light and evoked sun rays extending out to the world. The date July 4, 1776, is inscribed in Roman numerals on the tablet, noting American Independence. A broken shackle and chains at the Statue's foot symbolize the end of slavery, while the lifted torch gives meaning to the Statue's name - Liberty Enlightening the World., For its voyage to the United States aboard the French navy ship Istre, the Statue was disassembled into 350 individual pieces and packed in 214 crates. The ship arrived in New York Harbor on June 17, 1885, and the Statue remained in pieces on what was then called Bedloe's Island until the completion of the pedestal in 1886. On October 28, 1886, President Grover Cleveland oversaw the dedication of the Statue of Liberty during a day-long celebration. Though Édouard de Laboulaye had cast the initial vision for the project, he passed away in 1883 prior to the Statue's completion., The Statue of Liberty has become the most famous sculpture in the world and is internationally recognized as a symbol of freedom and democracy. One of just twelve ever cast, this nine- foot-tall bronze was created from Frédéric-Auguste Bartholdi's original plaster model of Liberty Enlightening the World, which served as the basis for the iconic New York landmark given in memory of the friendship between America and France. No exact copies of the first model of Liberty had ever been made, and creating the replica required great care given the necessity of not endangering Bartholdi's original work - which could not be moved or touched. A digital method of three- dimensional metrology was employed to make an exact copy from inches away. The series of twelve replicas created from this process are the only reproductions of the original model by Bartholdi that will ever exist., This replica of the Statue of Liberty was purchased by Jimmy Rane in 2020 and installed on these grounds in 2022 in memory of his grandfather, Giuseppe Reina, who was 29 years old when he immigrated from Cammarata, Sicily, in 1907. Temporarily leaving his wife and two young children behind as he sought to build a better life for them in the United States, Giuseppe boarded the passenger ship Liguria carrying only a few items and began a long, difficult journey as a steerage passenger a status considered just a step above livestock, with little thought given to passengers' comfort and basic needs., As the Liguria neared Ellis Island, the entry point for all immigrants into the U.S., Giuseppe's eyes welled up with tears as he caught sight of the Statue of Liberty. He had found his way to America and would begin a new life for his family. One unexpected change occurred almost immediately, however, when an impatient immigration officer who could not understand Giuseppe's Italian accent filled out his immigration papers with a new name Joseph Rane.