Interesting facts about America's 'Statue of Liberty'

New Delhi: The Statue of Liberty turns 128 on 28th October 2014. The Statue of Liberty depicts a woman holding on high a book and a 46 m long torch set on Liberty Island, situated at the entrance to New York Harbour. Here are some interesting facts about one of the magnificent structures made by the human race. A ceremony of allegiance was held on the afternoon of October 28, 1886. President Grover Cleveland, the former New York governor, presided over the event and she's never looked better.Still high and majestic, originally, the statue was a dull copper color, but shortly after 1900 a green glaze, also called verdigris, caused by the corrosion of the copper skin, began to spread.Laboulaye proposed that a great tombstone should be given as a gift from France to the United States as a celebration of both the union's victory in the American Revolution, and the elimination of slavery.Gustave Eiffel, the man who designed the Eiffel Tower was also behind the designing of Liberty's ‘spine'; four iron columns supporting a metal structure that holds the copper skin.Although one cannot see Lady Liberty's feet clearly she is in fact standing among a broken shackle and chains, with right foot raised, depicting her moving forward away from oppression and slavery. The seven spikes on the coronet represent the seven oceans and the seven continents of the world, indicating the universal concept of liberty.The statue has an iron infrastructure and copper external which has turned green due to corrosion.Although it's a sign of damage, the patina (green coating) also acts as a form of protection from further worsening. In 1984, the statue was listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.The statuette sustained slight damage in 1916 when German set off an explosion during World War One. The torch-bearing arm suffered the most damage, with revamp works costing $100,000. The stairways in the torch were then closed for the community for safety reasons, and have remained closed ever since. The statue's 300 copper pieces were transported to America in 214 crates on the French shipIsere, which almost sank in stormy seas. The cost of building the statue and base amounted to over $500,000, over $10m in today's money.After the terrorist attacks of September 11, the statue was closed for security reasons, with the bottom reopening in 2004, and the statue in 2009, but only a partial number of visitors are able to go up to the crown.The statue functioned as a lighthouse for 16 years (1886-1902), lighting a distance of up to 24 miles away. 300 different types of hammers were used to create the copper structure. The statue's face was said to be modeled on the sculptor's mother, Charlotte. The Statue of Liberty was supposed to have a sister statue and lighthouse in Egypt.Sculptor Frederic Bartholdi offered to make Egypt a large piece for the entrance to the Suez Canal called “Egypt Carrying Light to Asia,” which would have featured a oblique Egyptian peasant woman holding a lantern. The Egyptian khedive declined