Statue of Liberty Greatest Symbol of American Freedom - Case Study Example

Statue of Liberty Introduction The Statue f Liberty is probably the best known and greatest symbol f American freedom. It stands 151 feet tall on Liberty Island in New York Harbor. When the French sculptor Fredric Bartholdi visited America in 1871, he was so impressed with this country that he vowed "to make a statue that can be seen all the way from America to France." When Fredric Bartholdi returned to America in 1874, he entered the country at New York Harbor (as millions f immigrants would do), and had a vision f a giant goddess f liberty guarding this entrance to freedom. He returned to France and began work on his greatest creation. The statue entitled "Liberty Enlightens the World" was shipped to America in 214 separate crates in 1886 and re-assembled on tiny Bedloe Island, which was soon renamed Liberty Island. (Schamel 299-302) For more than a century, the Statue f Liberty has stood as a symbol f the American ideals f freedom, equality, and opportunity, and has greeted millions f immigrants at the entrance to New York Harbor. Given by the people f France to the people f the United States to commemorate the friendship between the two countries during the American Revolution, the 151-foot-tall statue was shipped in pieces from France and assembled and dedicated in 1876. Over the years, world events have added new layers f meaning to the statue as a symbol. During two World Wars, it endured as a reminder f the sacrifices involved in maintaining freedom, and in 1989, Chinese students constructed a plaster "Goddess f Democracy" inspired by the Statue f Liberty during political protests in Beijing's Tiananmen Square. (Bender 60-62) Gift from France The idea for a monument to commemorate the achievement f America's independence originated with the French scholar and abolitionist, Edouard de Laboulaye, in 1865. French intellectuals admired America's democratic ideals and its recent defeat f slavery, and aspired to create a French republican government modeled on the American constitution to replace the empire f Napoleon III. De Laboulaye suggested to F.A. Bartholdi, a 31-year old sculptor, that he travel to America to explore the possibility f a monument to French-American friendship. Bartholdi's vision for the Statue f Liberty solidified when he first saw New York Harbor. The tallest structure in the New York metropolitan area when it was dedicated, the Statue f Liberty rests on a granite and concrete pedestal to rise to a total height f over 300 feet. The statue's uplifted right arm raises a torch which is lit at night, and her left hand holds a tablet bearing the date "July 4, 1776." A broken shackle lies in front f her right foot as she strides forward, although it is difficult for visitors to see from the ground. A plaque with the words f a sonnet by Emma Lazarus titled "The New Colossus" was added to an interior wall f the pedestal in 1903. Lazarus had written the poem in 1883 to assist in fundraising for the pedestal, and her words, "...Give me your tired, your poor,/Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free/The wretched refuse f your teeming shore./Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me,/I lift my lamp beside the golden door!" have become inextricably linked with the Statue f Liberty. Body- Case study presentation and analysis Design and Construction The statue is constructed f copper sheets hand-hammered onto wooden molds, but over the years the originally shiny copper has acquired a light-green hue. The engineer Gustave Eiffel, who later built the Eiffel Tower, designed the iron framework supporting the statue. Each section f the framework, and the copper sheets covering it, is attached separately to the central tower, enabling the sheets to move independently in varying weather and temperatures. (Hansen 34-35) Funds to build and transport the statue to the United States were raised entirely by the French people, not by the French government. An organization, the Franco-American Union, was formed in 1875 to raise money and coordinate the project. The cost f the statue to the French people was approximately $250,000, and was financed through public festivals, lotteries, and the sale f clay models imprinted with the Franco-American Union's seal. The group requested only that the United States be responsible for the construction f the statue's pedestal. Although the original goal had been to present the statue at the American centennial celebration in 1876, French fundraising was not completed until 1882. The statue's arm and torch were exhibited at the Centennial Exposition in Philadelphia in 1876 to generate interest and encourage contributions, but fundraising in the United States for the pedestal proved difficult. Congress defeated a bill appropriating $100,000, and most Americans viewed the statue as belonging to the state f New York, and were reluctant to contribute. Joseph Pulitzer, a Hungarian immigrant who purchased the New York "World" magazine in 1883, assumed the job f promoting the project. Pulitzer worked to convince Americans that the statue was destined to become a national monument, and chastised people at the prospect f rejecting the generous gift because f their inability to finance the pedestal. After two years f benefit balls, theatrical performances, contributions by schoolchildren, and publishing the name f each and every donor in the "World," enough money was finally collected in August 1885, almost two months after the 214 crates carrying the statue arrived at Bedloe's Island in New York. American architect Richard Morris Hunt designed the pedestal. History and Maintenance Visitors to the statue may board boats at Battery Place in Manhattan or at Liberty State Park in New Jersey. An elevator transports visitors to the top f the pedestal, where there is an observation deck. From this deck, a spiral stairway ascends another 12 stories to the crown, where there are 25 observation windows surveying a panorama stretching 15 miles on a clear day. Stairs to the torch in the right arm were closed in 1916, and are now used only to maintain the lighting equipment. The Statue f Liberty exhibit on the second floor f the pedestal tells the story f the statue and includes full-scale replicas f its face and foot. The Lighthouse Board, a federal agency, maintained the statue in its early years, until it came under the jurisdiction f the War Department in 1901 by virtue f its location within Fort Wood, an old Army post. President Calvin Coolidge declared the statue a national monument in 1924, and in 1933 responsibility for its maintenance was transferred to the National Park Service in the Department f the Interior. (Bell 1-5) Bedloe's Island was renamed Liberty Island in 1956, and President Lyndon Johnson declared nearby Ellis Island a part f the Statue f Liberty National Monument in 1965. Nearly twelve million immigrants entered the United States through the Ellis Island Immigration Station between 1892 and 1954. The main building f the Immigration Station was reopened to the public as the Ellis Island Immigration Museum on September 10, 1990, following a major restoration. Outside the museum is the American Immigrant Wall f Honor honoring American immigrants; more than 600,000 names are currently inscribed on the wall. SWOT analysis f your project New York has the Statue f Liberty, Paris's skyline is dominated by the Eiffel Tower and London looks to Big Ben for the time and the reassurance that traditions still last. All great capitals need an eye-catching, symbolic monument towering over the cityscape to finish the picture, like the icing on a Christmas cake or the fairy at the top f the tree. Budapest is watched over by a 14-meter-high statue f a woman holding a palm leaf f victory above her head as a symbol f liberation from the Germans by Soviet troops in 1945. The statue's creator, Zsigmond Kisfaludy-Strobl, was born in 1884 in Alsorajk in Zala county. During his long life, he became one f Hungary's most successful 20th century sculptors. He studied at the Budapest School f Applied Arts and then under the tutelage f legendary sculptor Alajos Strobl. In 1908 he began to work as a sculptor in a little workshop on Akacfa utca and two years later, in 1910, received his first significant commission to design the monument for poet Elemer Szentirmay's grave. Kisfaludy-Strobl's career was centered on portraits and small sculptures and he created his first statue for a public square in 1918 with the image f a soldier. After the fashion for chunky, declaiming Socialist-realist statues fell away, many sculptors found their careers floundering, but Kisfaludy-Strobl's great talent lay in his ability and willingness to adapt and move with the times. In this way, he resembled the sculptor Gyorgy Zala, who created the impressive statues f the seven tribe leaders that surround the column in Heroes' Square. Some have argued that it was not so much flexibility but incredible talent that enabled Kisfaludy - Strobl to receive commissions from Governments both before and after 1945, despite their opposing views on public sculpture. In 1930, Princess Izabella, wife f Hapsburg Crown Prince Frigyes, commissioned Kisfaludy-Strobl to make a statue f Prince Saint Imre (the son f King Saint Istvan - Stephen - who was killed by a wild boar while hunting) as a gift for Horthy Miklos korter, now Moricz Zsigmond korter. In 1950, Kisfaludy-Strobl created the Hala (Thanks) group statue which was placed in Szabadsag ter for Stalin's 70th birthday, but it was removed in 1956. Kisfaludy-Strobl was a Kossuth-award winning artist and designed, appropriately, the Kossuth group statue which stands in front f Parliament. It is perhaps because f his habit f making Social-Realist style statues that, on closer inspection, Kossuth resembles not so much the Statesman who campaigned against the Hapsburg rule, but more like Lenin, gesticulating while delivering one f his stirring speeches. But Kisfaludy-Strobl's most famous work is, without doubt, the Liberation Monument which was erected in 1947. The statue f Genius has become a symbol for the city. One f the lasting myths surrounding the Liberation Monument is that it was originally designed to be a memorial to Regent Miklos Horthy's son, Istvan, who was killed in a plane crash on the Russian front in 1942. The figure was to hold a propeller blade high above her head. The story goes that Marshal Klimient Woroszylow saw a statue in the artist's workshop and decided it would make an appropriate tribute. However, the model in the story survived - despite the bombing f the Castle District cellar where it was stored - and shows that the two statues were quite different in design. Kisfaludy-Strobl created a second memorial to Istvan Horthy which stood in a square in Siofok, but was taken down after the war. This work was a version f his Ad Astra statue created in 1927 and a further version was created and became the decoration for the artists' own grave in Kerepesi Cemetery. Conclusion Twice in history the Liberation Monument has come close to being removed from its position on the summit f Gellert Hill. In 1956 and 1992 there were discussions about removing it and whether it represented not so much a liberation (felszabadulas) but an occupation (megszallas). However it is a much loved feature f the Budapest skyline and has stayed in place along with two allegorical figures below; a torch bearer and a man wrestling with a dragon, as representations f victory and the struggle with evil respectively. The statue f the Russian soldier that used to stand guard at the base f the statue's plinth has now been removed to a new home in the Communist Statue Park way out in District XXII. Works Cited Bell, James B. and Abrams, Richard I. (1984). In Search f Liberty. Garden City, NY: Doubleday & Co. Bender, Evelyn; Gerhardt, Lillian N. (1985) The Statue f Liberty. School Library Journal, Vol. 31 Issue 8, p70 Fisher, Leonard Everett. (1985). The Statue f Liberty. New York, NY: Holiday House. Hansen, Brett. (2007) Enlightening the World: The Statue f Liberty. Civil Engineering, Vol. 77 Issue 7, p34-35 Haskins, Jim. (1986). The Statue f Liberty. Minneapolis, Minn.: Lerner Publications Co. Schamel, Wynell Burroughs; Blondo, Richard A., (1992) Statue f Liberty Deed f Presentation. Social Education, v56 n5 p299-302, Stokely, Anne. (2006) Statue f Liberty. Let's Take a Look at New York, p1-4 Read More