Lady Liberty Celebrates 125 Years By Going Online!
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On Friday, October 28th, 2011 one of America's most famous landmarks - The Statue of Liberty AKA Liberty Enlightening The World, celebrated its 125th years of existence. The statue was given to the country by France in 1886, as a gesture of the friendship between the two countries and symbolized the love of liberty shared by both.
The 131ft. copper statue of the robed female figure depicting Libertas, the Roman goddess of Freedom carrying a torch, was originally designed to be a lighthouse and functioned as one for 16 years, until 1902.
However, it soon turned into a symbol of freedom to the thousands European immigrants that came to the USA to escape the devastating famine and war that swept through their countries in the mid 1900's. Today, the lady in green is one of the most popular tourist destinations clocking in over 3.5 million visitors each year.
In celebration of her 125th birthday, Lady Liberty's famous torch was fitted with five web cameras - Four to provide 24-hour video footage of the vista around and one to provide footage from inside the statue itself. In addition to that, 125 lucky immigrants from 40 countries got to take their oath of citizenship under this symbol of freedom.
The evening culminated with a spectacular show of fireworks after which, Lady Liberty closed its doors to the public to undergo a year of renovations. The $27.25million USD undertaking will include upgrades to the statue's 125-year-old pedestal and the 200-year old fort base from which she stands so proud. In addition to that, the statue's interior will be fitted with new stairways and elevators and its water and mechanical systems will be re-furbished. While visitors will still be able to visit and admire the statue from the outside, those wanting to take a peek inside, will either have to wait a year or simply check out the live feed from the statue by visiting sf.earthcam.com.
Happy 125th Birthday Lady Liberty!
Resources: Wikipedia.org,abc.go.com,latimesblogs.latimes.com
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227 Comments
- M!ch@el$!!!!!!!!over 13 yearsHappy 1 month & 17 days late birthday, Lady Liberty! I wish I could see the fireworks. It must have been really cool. I also wish that it wasn't closed. I was supposed to go to it on the 27th of November. Come on!
- Alien Emmaover 13 yearsEveryday, i always check to what is going on! Like one time, i saw a boat, plane, bird,and all in a different direction! I think the author's purpose was PIE(Persuade, Inform, and Entertain.) i can not believe that they made so much money! i wonder how many people it took and how much it was. you never know.... I LOVED THIS ARTICLE!!!!!!!!!!!!!
- Madison over 13 yearsThis the same thing as what we read in time for kids and how they put video cameras on top.I thought that the fire works were really pretty!I went on earth cam the other day and I loved the camera that looked out onto the harbor.it is pretty cool!
sprinkalover 13 yearsme and my friend jefferygil love freedom
heyover 13 yearsthat's amazing- Danielaover 13 yearsI am happy about the staue of liberty.
- Laurenover 13 yearsThat was a great article!
animalover 13 yearsWhen I see the statue of liberty I think about the USA and I think about our freedom. I also think about how other countrys do not have freedom. What do you think about?- devinover 13 yearswhen i see the statue of liberty i think about the USA and how we have fretum. some other contrys DONT what do you think?
- mhn99over 13 yearsthat is amazing!!!!