Liberty Enlightening the World

The Statue of Liberty is a colossal neoclassical sculpture on Liberty Island in New York Harbor, NY. The copper statue was a gift from the people of France to the people of the United States. The statue was dedicated on October 28, 1886.

The Statue of Liberty is a figure of Libertas, a robed Roman liberty goddess. She holds a torch above her head with her right hand, and in her left hand carries a tabula ansata inscribed in Roman numerals with “JULY IV MDCCLXXVI” (July 4, 1776), the date of the U.S. Declaration of Independence. A broken shackle and chain lay at her feet as she walks forward, commemorating the recent national abolition of slavery. The statue became an icon of freedom of the United States. For many years it has been a welcoming sight to immigrants arriving from abroad.