Liberty, Statue of

The Statue of Liberty is sited on Liberty Island in New York Harbour. The monument was a gift from the people of France to the USA, and is a symbol of political freedom and democracy.

Monument on Liberty Island in New York harbour. The 92-m/302-ft statue was presented to the US people by the French and dedicated in 1886, marking the centenary of American Independence and commemorating the alliance between the USA and France during the War of Independence. The statue, by the French sculptor Frédéric-Auguste Bartholdi and designed by Gustave Eiffel, represents a woman holding a fiery torch in her upraised right hand and a tablet inscribed with ‘4 July 1776’ (the date of American Independence) in her left. The statue was deeply symbolic for immigrants sailing into New York, with its inscription beginning ‘Give me your tired, your poor/Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free’. It was declared a national monument in 1924.