A second 'Statue of Liberty' is on its way to US on loan from France
The new statue is being loaned by a Paris museum to solidify Franco-American friendship and will be first displayed on Ellis Island and later move to Washington, DC, where it will stand for ten years.
FollowFrance is sending the United States a scaled-down replica of the original Statue of Liberty which it has called the 'little sister' of the monument.Â
The new statue is being loaned by a Paris museum to solidify Franco-American friendship and will be first displayed on Ellis Island and later move to Washington, DC, where it will stand for ten years.Â
The 'second' Statue of Liberty, as it is being called, is on the way from Paris to New York City and is retracing the steps of the previous bigger Statue of Liberty, a large neoclassical sculpture that stands guard on Liberty Island in New York Harbour, in New York City.Â
The new statue is expected to arrive ahead of July 4, which is American Independence Day.Â
The smaller replica measures 2.83 meters or 9.3 feet tall and was gently lifted off its plinth on the back of a crane by workers in Paris two weeks ago and then set on the back of a truck, covered by plastic film and wedged between foam blocks for protection; it then set off on a ship to the United States of America.Â
The replica was designed in 1878 by French sculptor Frederic Auguste Bartholdi, the same artist who, with help from engineer Gustave Eiffel, created the larger version. The larger version was also a gift given by France, which was completed and assembled in 1886.
