MyWestworld

A Crowning View

Posted on 16. Jun, 2009 by Kerry Banks in International

courtesy Laverrue (flickr.com)

They are opening the Lady up – all the way to the top. On July 4 this summer, the Statue of Liberty’s crown – off limits to the public since the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks – will again be available for touring. The museum gallery and observation deck at the landmark’s base were reopened in 2004, but the crown remained closed. The official reason given: “fire safety,” but many believe it was due to9 the previous American administration’s campaign to foster an ongoing climate of fear.

In a recent interview, Ken Salazar, the U.S. interior secretary, stated that the re-opening was a symbol of President Barrack Obama’s agenda for “a new beginning, restoring confidence in the American people, in their government, and in our place in the world.” Salazar also noted that a maximum of 10 visitors would be able to occupy the crown at any given time, allowing for 30 an hour, or 50,000 a year, in the initial phase of the crown’s re-opening.

A lottery will determine exactly who will be able to journey to the crown. After two years, the statue will then undergo a more significant “rehabilitation,” in the hope of increasing the number of such treks to about 200,000 a year. Visits to the Statue of Liberty have declined steadily since the crown’s closure – down to to 3.4 million in 2007 from a high of 5.5 million in 2002, according to the National Park Service.

How It All Began

The massive copper sculpture known officially as “Liberty Enlightening the World” was designed by French sculptor Frederic Auguste Bartholdi – to mark the 1876 centennial of the Declaration of Independence, with its construction funded completely by donations from the French people. Meanwhile, fundraising in America to build the pedestal for the monument was proceeding very slowly, so Joseph Pulitzer (noted for the Pulitzer Prize) opened up the editorial pages of his newspaper, The World, to support the fundraising efforts. Pulitzer proceeded to use his newspaper to criticize both the rich, who had failed to finance the pedestal construction, and the middle class, who were content to rely upon the wealthy to provide the funds. His campaign was successful in motivating Americans to donate $100,000.

After Bartholdi finalized the design in miniature, the statue itself was created using wooden moulds, a copper shell and an iron structure designed by Gustave Eiffel, who later built the Eiffel Tower. The statue was then shipped to the U.S. in 350 pieces aboard a French vessel, in June 1885, then re-assembled and unveiled on October 28, 1886. The day was declared a public holiday and more than a million people lined New York’s streets (draped with red, white and blue and French tricolour buntin) to watch a parade of more than 20,000 pass by. The New York Times reported that as the parade rolled past, the office boys “from a hundred windows began to unreel the spools of tape that record the fateful messages of the ‘ticker.’ In a moment the air was white with curling streamers.” And so the famous New York ticker-tape parade was born.

Interestingly, tourists were also once able to climb the inside of Lady Liberty’s arm to the top of her torch. But that also changed after another act of sabotage. On July 30, 1916, during World War I, German saboteurs ignited a cache of dynamite at a munitions depot on nearby Black Tom Wharf . Shrapnel from the explosion resulted in extensive structural damage to the buildings on Ellis Island and popped bolts out of the Statue of Liberty’s right arm. Officials shut down the monument for about a week, and, when it reopened, the arm was closed to tourists.

A few Things to Consider Before the Big Climb

A heads up: those eager to experience the majestic ocean view from the crown can’t be claustrophobic or have a weak heart. The only route is up, waaaay up, via an extremely narrow, almost-vertical staircase of 354 steps. Also worth noting: it’s best not to attempt to scale the crown on a windy day. The copper skin is no thicker than two pennies and in gales the statue sways by up to 7.5 centimetres;  her gilded torch can shift by up to  12.5 centimetres. As well, the torch, which stands 92 metres above the small island, or the equivalent of 22 floors, is pummelled and pitted by frequent lightning. And inside the head, temperatures can be sweltering and the 25 windows in the crown are merely tiny portholes.

But then, true democracy never is.

Tags: New York, Statue of Liberty