Friday, May 29, 2015

The statue of Liberty


The statue of Liberty symbolizes freedom , marking the arrival of millions of immigrants  to the United States.  It was designed by the French sculptor, Frederic Bartholdi.  France gave it to the United States  as gift in memory of the centennial  of the U.S. independence  from England.  The statue  symbolizes liberty in the form of a woman wearing flowing robes  and a spiked crown.  She is holding a torch in her right hand.  In her left hand  , she is  carrying a book with the date July 4, 1776 inscribed on it.  There are broken chains of tyranny  at her feel .  The statue is located on  an island in New York City harbor.

The statue of Liberty is one of the largest statue in the world.  It rises 93.5m. (306ft. 8 in.) from the bottom of the pedestal to the tip of the torch .  The figure alone is 46.4 m . (152ft. 2 in.)  high.  The right arm is 12.8m . (42 ft) long; the hand is 5.03 m. (16 ft.5 in) long; and the head measures  8.5 m.(28 ft) from neck to diadem  and  3.05 m.(10 ft) from ear to ear.  The  statue weighs 254 metric tons.  Following are the last verses of a poem inscribed  at the main entrance  to the pedestal:

Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these , the homeless , tempest- tost to me ,
I lift my lamp beside the golden door!


(by Emma Lazarus)

No comments:

Post a Comment