#45 - Fascinating French history of the Statue of Liberty

In this episode, we explore the origins of an American icon. She is world famous. She’s very tall. And she’s French. She is known as the Statue of Liberty.

The statue of Liberty is an iconic landmark and one of the most recognised symbols of the United States. But did you know that Lady Liberty is an immigrant? It’s true, she’s a French woman by birth who has made New York her home. (No wonder she’s so elegant.)

She almost didn't go to America at all, Gustave Eiffel was involved in her design, and Joseph Pulitzer, of Pulitzer Prize fame, was instrumental in her standing tall, her index dinger is more than 8 feet long... 

Find out the fascinating French history, facts and legends about the Statue of Liberty. 

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• 1:22 Fascinating French history of the Statue of Liberty
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Transcript

Podcast 45 : The Fascinating French history of the Statue of Liberty

Janine: Bonjour and a warm welcome to the Good Life France podcast. I’m Janine Marsh, your host, I’m British but feel a bit French as I live in the north of France with my four dogs, 6 cats, chickens, ducks and geese. I sometimes leave them behind with my husband Mark so that I can go travelling around l’Hexagone – the Hexagon - as the French call France, researching all things French to write about for my website and magazine The Good Life France. When I’m not travelling or writing or looking after my animals, or learning to cook with my neighbours who like to teach, I love to chat to you on this podcast alongside my podcast partner Olivier Jauffrit. 

Oli: Bonjour bonjour tout le monde. Call me Oli! I am French and a little British too as I lived in the UK for 20 years – Janine and I, we are like entente cordiale. I live in Lyon, in the south of France where I work in the world of music and radio and love the local restaurants – there are thousands of them here in what is known as the gastronomic capital of France! But enough of us – let’s dive into today’s podcast topic! Janine what are we going to be talking about today? 

Janine: We’re going to explore the origins of an American icon. She is world famous. She’s very tall. And she’s French! She is known as the Statue of Liberty!

Oli: Ah – yes a very famous lady for sure – let’s find out more!

The statue of Liberty is an iconic landmark and one of the most recognised symbols of the United States. But did you know that Lady Liberty is an immigrant? It’s true, she’s a French woman by birth who has made New York her home. (No wonder she’s so elegant.)

Janine: There are replicas of this monument throughout the world Including in Paris on the ile aux Cygnes – the island of swans in English. It’s small artificial island in the heart of Paris in the river Seine, and it was built to support the three bridges that cross it. This Lady Liberty faces her sister in America. She’s a bit on the short side a quarter of the size of her sister, at just 11.5 metres – almost 38 feet - tall and she is cast from an original mould signed by Bartholdi who filed a patent for the statue of liberty design in 1875. In fact there are hundreds of Statues of Liberty all around the world including in Ireland in County Donegal, Spain, Canada, the UK, Ecuador, China, Japan, and Peru to name just a few!

Oli: But before we get to some of those fascinating facts, lets go back to when It all started. It was the year 1865, with a Frenchman called Edouard de Laboulaye. He was an idealistic political thinker who wanted to make a monument to the liberty that both France and the United States valued having both had revolutions. It would be a gift from the people of France to the people of the United States with no government involvement. The French people would produce the statue and the American people would provide the pedestal on which it would stand.

Janine: Laboulaye, who is known as the “Father of the Statue of Liberty” enlisted the help of a sculptor friend named Auguste Bartholdi. Bartholdi was born in Colmar in 1834 and he was a bit obsessed with building something colossal. When the Suez Canal was being built he proposed that a huge statue of a woman to serve as a lighthouse would be a great idea but no one wanted to know. When Laboulaye and Bartholdi got together, they planned and waited for the right time to start their monumental project. Ten years later (1875) the project was officially announced. Bartholdi’s dream to build something monumental was about to come true. But this noble and idealistic French plan had one little flaw. They had not even considered the possibility that the Americans might not want to participate.  But actually the gift receivers weren’t met with as much enthusiasm as you might think. 

Oli: Bartholdi went to New York to meet with the movers and shakers of the city. When he explained that the people of France wanted to give America a giant statue to glorify the idea of liberty, that was fine with them. 

Janine: But when he asked them to fund the pedestal that it would need to stand on, that was a different matter. C’est la vie as the French say – that’s life!  

Oli: The Americans basically weren’t keen on a gift that cost them money, well you can’t really blame them can you! The American partners that Laboulaye spoke to wanted to know how they could profit from it. Could they advertise their businesses on the base they wondered – that would be a good idea wouldn’t it! Anyway, in the end they half-heartedly agreed to form a committee to raise funds for the pedestal but the money was slow to come in. 

Janine: Meanwhile the committee in France organised concerts, opera events, and collected money from individuals all over the country. They raised the amount needed to get the statue going and construction began.

Oli: They raised more funds by exhibiting the statue as it was being built and also selling miniatures of the statue. Plus lots of schoolchildren really got behind the idea and sent in their donations.

The internal structure was originally assigned to Eugène Viollet-le-Duc, a prominent architect, in fact it was he who restored the great Cathedral of Notre-Dame and the citadel of Carcassonne. But he passed away unexpectedly, so one Gustave Eiffel was employed to take his place. 

Janine: Eiffel modernised the plans and designed a tall central pylon which actually looks a bit like the Eiffel Tower! The statue’s skin, made of copper, was then attached to metal bars bolted to the pylon which gives it flexibility with temperature changes, high wind etc. The statue was constructed between 1884 and 1885 at a foundry in rue de Chazelles in the 17th arrondissement of Paris (that’s like a district). 

Oli: Bartholdi had hoped to present the completed statue at the American centennial Independence celebration in 1876, but the project was behind schedule. So he decided to present the most symbolic part of the statue – the arm holding the torch. Unfortunately, the ship carrying it was a month late and the centennial celebration was finished by the time the arm arrived.

Janine: But the Centennial Exhibition in Philadelphia was still going strong, so Bartholdi packed up his giant arm and went to Philadelphia where he exhibited it and charged people 50 cents to climb up to the flame. It was a big hit and the interest of the American public was piqued by his project. Back in Paris, Bartholdi continued his publicity by displaying Lady Liberty’s head at the 1878 Paris World’s Fair.

Oli: And that iconic face, strangely no one actually knows for sure who Bartholdi based her on. Some say it was his mother, others say it was a French woman named Isabelle Boyer then wife of Isaac Merritt Singer of sewing machine fame. Or perhaps someone else…  

Janine: In 1884, after 9 years of construction, the statue was finally complete – but the base wasn’t. This giant of a woman had no place to go. The Parisians launched a petition to keep her, but in 1885, Bartholdi decided to send her to New York and hope the Americans would finish the pedestal. The French government paid for the transportation to New York, which was the only government involvement in the entire project. The statue was transported from France to America in 214 crates aboard a French Navy ship called Isere, and arrived in New York Harbour on June 17, 1885. 

Oli: An immigrant named Joseph Pulitzer (the same one who later established the Pulitzer Prize) stepped in to save the day. He decided to bypass the rich businessmen and do what the people of France had done. He got the whole country involved via the newspaper he published called New York World. Just think, without that the statue might have ended up somewhere else – Boston or San Francisco for instance!   

Janine: Actually Bartholdi was said to have started a rumour setting off rivalry between Philadelphia and New York which helped kick start the campaign as the New Yorkers didn’t want Philadelphia to have the statue! Pullitzer asked everyone to give money, even if it was just a penny. He promised to print the name of every person in his paper no matter how small their donation. The rest of the money came pouring into the newspaper office from all over America in coins and notes. A kindergarten in Iowa raised £1.35. In total $102,000 was raised from 120,000 contributors. Pulitzer kept his word and every contributor’s name was printed in his newspaper no matter how small the amount – crowd-funding at its best. 

Oli: With the pennies of the people, the enough money was raised to complete the base so the crates containing the dismantled lady which were stacked next to the unfinished base were unpacked, and the majestic French lady stepped up onto her pedestal in October 1886 

Janine: It was a huge event by then. A million New Yorkers turned out to watch the official unveiling on a wet and foggy day. There were parades on land and see, Bartholdi removed the flat from Liberty’s face and cannon fire roared accompanied by steam whistles from hundreds of ships in the harbour – it gives me goose pimples just thinking how amazing it must have been! And the 46 metres (151 ft) tall Liberty on her pedestal which is 47 metres (154 ft) tall was finally home.

Oli: The statue that started as an idealistic French plan, and was unwanted by the Americans has become one of the most important symbols of the United States of America and today, people often forget that Lady Liberty is a French woman.  

And here are some fascinating facts about the Statue of Liberty! 

Janine: The name given to the statue by the sculptor was La Liberté éclairant le monde, or “Liberty Enlightening the World”.

Oli: The robed female figure represents Libertas, the Roman goddess of freedom and that’s why she is named Liberty.

Janine: The seven spikes on the crown represent the seven oceans and the seven continents of the world, indicating the universal concept of liberty.

Oli:  At the time it was finished, the Statue of Liberty was the tallest iron structure ever built. Then of course came another tall iron structure from France – The Eiffel Tower, and you can listen to our podcast about that episode to find out more!

Janine: The Statue of Liberty holds a torch and tablet with the date July 4 1776 inscribed in Roman numerals: JULY IV MDCCLXXVI – the date of American Declaration of Independence

Oli:  The crown of the statue has 25 windows and can be reached via 354 steps.

Janine: The statue functioned as a lighthouse for a while - from 1886 to 1902.

Oli: 50 mph winds cause the Statue to sway up to 3 inches and the torch sways even more - up to 6 inches.

Janine: The Statue’s original torch has been replaced by a new copper torch covered in 24K gold leaf which is lit by floodlight at night. The original torch is located in the lobby of the monument.

Oli: The length of the statue’s nose is 4’6″ (1.37m)

Janine: The Index finger of the statue is a whopping 8 feet long! Or 2.44m

Oli: The Statue of Liberty was designated a National Monument in 1924 and a World Heritage Site in 1984…

Janine: …and more than four million people visit the Statue of Liberty in New York each year.

Oli: We hope you’ve enjoyed this episode about the elegant French lady who lives on an island in New York! 

We just want to say a huge thank you to all of you listening to our podcast and to everyone for sharing it too. We really love sharing the France we know and love with you, the authentic and real France with its wonderful history, culture, gastronomy, wine and more. It always amazes us that people are listening in about 150 countries around the world!

Janine: Yes thank you so much everyone, wherever you are, we really appreciate it. You’ve been listening to me Janine Marsh and Olivier Jauffrit. You can find Oli at parischanson.fr playing heaps of great music, and you can find me and a ton of information about France – where to visit, culture, history, recipes – everything France - at thegoodlifefrance.com where you can subscribe to the podcast, a weekly newsletter about France and my totally brilliant, completely free magazine which you can read at magazine.thegoodlifefrance.com.

But for now, it’s au revoir from me.

Olivier: And goodbye from me.

Janine: Speak to you soon!