Thursday 21 May 2015

The Statue of Liberty….. in Paris!!

It is common knowledge that there is a Statue of Liberty on Liberty Island in New York Harbour in the United States. But what is not so commonly know is that there are two Statue of Liberties in Paris France.

The original Statue of Liberty in New York was a gift from the French people to the American people as a memorial to their Independence.

It was built and designed by French sculptor Auguste Bartholdi. Started in 1875 the head was completed in 1878 in time to be displayed for the World’s Fair in Paris, the same fair that also saw the introduction of the Eiffel Tower to the world. The Statue was finally competed in 1884 and presented to the American People on July 4th and officially unveiled New York in 1886.

In a reciprocal gesture to the French people, a group of Americans living in Paris in 1889, presented a one-forth height copy of the Statue of Liberty in Paris. The Statue is located on the Pont de Grenelle, which stretches the Seine River on the Ile des Cygnes (island of the Swans) in the south-west area of Paris between the 15th and 16th districts. It faces west towards her larger sister across the ocean.

There is also a version in the Jardin du Luxembourg a small-scale model by used by Bartholdi when designing the one in New York.


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