Was the Statue of Liberty ever shiny?

We're kidding...mostly. It all comes down to chemistry. In her first few decades in the Big Apple, the statue slowly turned from that shiny copper color to a dull brown and then, finally, to the blue-green, or as they'd say back in France, verdigris ; on screen - green of Greece] we see today.



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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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The Statue of Liberty was a gift from the French people commemorating the alliance of France and the United States during the American Revolution. Yet, it represented much more to those individuals who proposed the gift.

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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 symbolizes freedom and the light around all the world,” Olivier Faron, general administrator of the museum, commented to CNN Style. “We want to send a very simple message: Our friendship with the United States is very important, particularly at this moment. We have to conserve and defend our friendship.”

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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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Some say the current white statue was substituted for the original when American politicians objected to the portrayal of Liberty as a black woman. Some have even argued that the original black statue still exists, either in France or hidden somewhere in the catacombs of New York.

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The Statue of Liberty, a gift from the people of France, made its way to America on June 17, 1885. The French people, in honor of the alliance between the two countries during the American Revolution, presented the statue to recognize America as a champion of liberty and encourage the French to support the same ideals.

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The first sketch of New York's Statue of Liberty by architect Frédéric Auguste Bartholdi was first intended to represent an “Egyptian peasant in Muslim garments.” In his early designs, Bartholdi called the sculpture “Egypt Carrying the Light to Asia.” However, Egyptian officials rejected the statue as too expensive, ...

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You can't remove the patina without removing some of the copper too. The skin of the statue is on the thin side - 3/32nds of an inch (about two pennies thick). And it would only be temporary. The copper would turn green again as the copper surface was exposed to air, water and salt.

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With 31 tons of copper and 125 tons of steel, the scrap value of the Statue of Liberty comes in at $227,610, far below two of the most expensive statues in the world. But that's what happens when you use millions worth of gold and bronze.

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General Admission tickets do not get you access inside the statue or pedestal. Pedestal Ticket: Tickets are limited and reservations are required. Pedestal tickets allow visitors to access up to the top of the pedestal, which includes lower pedestal levels. These are purchased online only through Statue City Cruises.

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It began with efforts to finance this unprecedented undertaking. France would be responsible for creating the Statue and assembling it in the United States while the American people would fund and build the pedestal. To raise funds in France, public fees, various forms of entertainment, and a lottery were used.

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When France gifted 'Lady Liberty' to the US in 1885, it was a 305-feet statue with reddish-brown copper skin. The colour change to the present olive-green happened as a result of about 30 years' chemical reactions with the air in New York City harbour. 2.

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But beneath her copper skin of a few millimeters thick, the skeleton is beginning to disintegrate. Steven Ross stated that the steel straps that hold the copper to the steel framework would pull away, along with the rivets which could pull away over a period of 100 to 200 years.

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