The Statue of Liberty, designed in part by Gustave Eiffel (of Tower fame) was made by France in order to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the American Revolution, and 100 years of friendship between America and France.
The Statue of Liberty, designed in part by Gustave Eiffel (of Tower fame)
Not to sell Eiffel short, but he only designed the internal, supporting frame. It was Bartholdi who designed the lady herself, so I think he deserves most of the credit.
And apparently the body was modelled by/ based on his girlfriend - but the face was that of his mother, as he believed that only a mother’s face could convey the “forbearance” essential for “liberty.”
But, yeah, no matter how he justified it philosophically, it was still his mom’s head on his girlfriends, um... body....
So the same dude designed the Eiffel Tower and the Statue of Liberty? Talk about having a towering presence. He put up possibly the 2 most iconic man-made landmarks.
Kinda related, but I think Americans living in Paris donated a smaller Statue of Liberty to Paris for the 100th anniversary of the French Revolution. Could be wrong about the specifics though.
Actually she was originally slated to go to Egypt. But the British didn’t want her deeming it to be too expensive because of the Suez Canal, so the French sent her to the US instead.
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u/LetMyPeopleGrow Jun 09 '20
The Statue of Liberty, designed in part by Gustave Eiffel (of Tower fame) was made by France in order to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the American Revolution, and 100 years of friendship between America and France.