Liberty shows her new face

Crowning glory ... the Statue of Liberty reopens to public later this month.

Public access to New York's attractions is increasing, with the city's iconic statue leading the way, writes Lance Richardson.

For many travellers, myriad events during the past decade can be reduced to a single fact: the US is increasingly closed. This is clear every time a person goes through the gauntlet of airport security, X-rayed by spreading their arms and legs in a star-jump manoeuvre. It's clear at the White House in Washington, DC: officials suggest visitors contact the Australian embassy to arrange a tour; the Australian embassy informs visitors that tours are currently "on hold".

An increase in public access is therefore an event. In September, the Museum of Modern Art, New York, announced its intention to stay open seven days a week from next May. The Metropolitan Museum is said to be considering a similar move. Downtown and across the bay, an even more iconic monument is opening its doors wider as well: the statue on Liberty Island.

Liberty Enlightening the World was designed by French sculptor Frederic Bartholdi, with iron framework by Gustave Eiffel, and presented to the US as a gift from France.

Advertisement

Initial reception was mixed. Living through a depression at the time, the US was required to pay for the pedestal; The New York Times complained "no true patriot can countenance any such expenditures for bronze females in the present state of our finances".

The public made it work through donations, though, and on October 28, 1886, Liberty was dedicated during an elaborate ceremony.

Coated in copper and standing 93 metres tall, its features are widely celebrated: the golden torch, originally a functioning lighthouse; the tablet bearing the date of American independence (July 4, 1776); the broken shackles at the statue's feet. After a few years, the exterior began to oxidise, turning green and sending Congress into a panic. New Yorkers thought Liberty looked better this way. The statue symbolises openness.

"Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free," begins Emma Lazarus's famous poem, mounted on a plaque inside the pedestal. This is what made the closure, after the events of September 11, 2001, so significant. Because of safety concerns, visitor access was restricted to the island's exterior for eight years.

Read more here:
Liberty shows her new face