Was Lady Liberty an Egyptian?

The Statue of Liberty Was Originally Designed as an Egyptian Woman. Due to its rich archeological history, Egypt is well-known as a home to various colossi statues depicting ancient rulers.



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The Statue was originally designed for the Suez Canal in Egypt. Bartholdi did not craft the basic design of Liberty specifically for America. As a young man, he had visited Egypt and was enchanted by the project underway to dig a channel between the Mediterranean and the Red Sea.

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Designed and sculpted by French sculptor Frédéric-Auguste Bartholdi, France donated this colossal statue to the United States in 1875 to commemorate their alliance during the American Revolution.

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The Statue of Liberty was a gift from the French people commemorating the alliance of France and the United States during the American Revolution.

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Egypt rejected the Statue of Liberty because according to the Khedive it was too costly. The original plan was to present the colossal neoclassical sculpture to Egypt to stand at the entryway to the Suez Canal as a beacon of light to Asia. The statue was known as Progress Carrying the Light to Asia.

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Disease, Lost Resources and Tomb Robbing (Ramses XI, who died around 1070 B.C., was the last pharaoh of the New Kingdom.) Archaeological records from this period give clues to why and how Egypt entered such a rapid decline.

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But did you know she wasn't always that color? When France gifted Lady Liberty to the U.S., she was a 305-foot statue with reddish-brown copper skin. Her color change is thanks to about 30 years' worth of chemistry in the air of New York City harbor.

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The Statue of Liberty is an iconic blue-green symbol of freedom. But did you know she wasn't always that color? When France gifted Lady Liberty to the U.S., she was a 305-foot statue with reddish-brown copper skin. Her color change is thanks to about 30 years' worth of chemistry in the air of New York City harbor.

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So who was the Statue of Liberty modeled after? Quite likely, a mixture of all of these: Augusta Charlotte Bartholdi, the Roman goddess Libertas, a peasant, and that extra inspiration in the artist's own mind.

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There are two genuine statues and several lesser versions of the Statue of Liberty. The original and most famous is the one located on Liberty Island, a gift from the French to America. The second is located in Paris, France, and was a reciprocal gift from the United States in 1889.

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The statue almost ended up at the Suez Canal. Bartholdi was determined to build his colossus, and initially pitched it to the Egyptian government for the Suez Canal, which was opening at the time.

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The Statue of Liberty was built in France between 1875 and 1884. It was disassembled and shipped to New York City in 1885. The statue was reassembled on Liberty Island in 1886, although the torch has been redesigned or restored several times since its installation.

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The Statue of Liberty is just one of the iconic landmarks in New York City. It's made of copper, which has oxidised naturally to form a green patina coating which actually protects the copper underneath. It took about 20 years for the Statue of Liberty to change from copper coloured to green!

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The copper statue, officially unveiled on October 28, 1886, took four months to assemble and 20 years to transform from its original copper hue into its iconic green through a process called patination. (Fast facts about the Statue of Liberty from National Geographic Kids.)

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5 Things You May Not Know About the Statue of Liberty
  • The statue represents a Roman Goddess. ...
  • The crown's spikes represent the oceans and continents. ...
  • Lady Liberty is struck by lightning 600 times every year. ...
  • Gustave Eiffel helped to build it. ...
  • Lady Liberty's face is modelled on the artist's mother.


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The Statue of Liberty has stayed this color for over a hundred years because all the exposed copper is now oxidized: she's stable at this point of her life.

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The Statue of Liberty stands in Upper New York Bay, a universal symbol of freedom. Originally conceived as an emblem of the friendship between the people of France and the U.S. and a sign of their mutual desire for liberty, it was also meant to celebrate the abolition of slavery following the U.S. Civil War.

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The original statue was chained. American financiers were not too keen on the idea, so Bartholdi replaced the chains with a tablet. Bartholdi, however, left broken chains at the feet of Lady Liberty to remind us of the freedom from oppression and servitude.

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