Statue of Liberty 1886

The Statue of Liberty, French sculptor Frédéric Auguste Bartholdi’s colossal sculpture, symbolizes more than friendship between France and the United States. Living in France under the rule of Napoleon III, Bartholdi held the United States’ ideal of liberty in high regard, and wanted to celebrate this. Bartholdi collaborated with structural engineer Gustave Eiffel and American architect Richard Morris Hunt, who designed the statue’s base. Bartholdi sculpted the statue in his Paris studio in over 300 parts, which were then shipped across the Atlantic. Before the statue’s dedication in 1886, parts of Lady Liberty went on tour to Boston and Philadelphia to help raise funds. On October 29, 1886, the city celebrated the unveiling of the statue with parties, parades, and speeches by dignitaries, including President Grover Cleveland.