Being French they could have sent wine, onions or even a lifetime supply of baguettes but they decided to go with a 225 tonne statue of a French woman with a 35ft waist and a 4ft nose holding a torch enlightening the World and symbolizing freedom from slavery, oppression, and tyranny and a quick knock off of a couple of statues of the national symbol of France, a chick called Liberty, knocking out a much bigger version of a couple of statues they already had standing around in Paris anyway.
The Statue of Liberty Enlightening the World to give her her full title was built by the same guy who put together the Eiffel Tower, Gustave Eiffel, but what they didn't provide was a pedestal for her to pose on so the present ended up costing America $100,000 so they could stand it in New York Harbour so the first thing arrivals to America see is the massive symbol of France.
A competition was held to find a suitable poem to attach to the base which was won by 'The New Colossus', penned by American poet Emma Lazarus which mentions the lines 'Give me your tired and your poor' and you will be both after paying $50 to climb to the top up the 354 steps because as well as not providing a pedestal, the French only put in a lift which goes to the first section.
No comments:
Post a Comment