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What a wonderful world!
July 4, 2007
The Statue of Liberty, New York
America's most iconic symbol was a gift of friendship from France for its centennial celebrations, though it arrived 10 years later, in 1886.
Some facts you probably did not know:
The statue has seven spikes on her crown representing the seven continents and the seven seas.
It is coated in copper, which came from Karmoy, an island off the western coast of Norway.
Frederic Auguste Bartholdi designed the statue after locating the site beforehand on a trip to New York. It is said that his muse was his mother for the statue's face and his mistress for the body. Bartholdi also created the magnificent Lion of Belfort, a red sandstone lion that pops out of a hillside in Belfort, France.
The flame of the torch, which the statue holds, is covered in gold and had to be replaced in 1986.
The statue is 46.5 metres tall and stands on a base which is 46.9 metres off the ground. A sister statue stands on the banks of the Seine in Paris. Several replicas dot Europe and exist in the US, Japan and China.
It was shipped across in 350 pieces and 214 crates and took a year to be assembled.
Image: The Statue of Liberty was illuminated by special lights for a show by French champagne makers Moet & Chandon in 2006. Photograph: Stan Honda/AFP/Getty Images
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