Free
Millions of immigrants from all over the world have passed by the Statue of Liberty on their way to a new life in a new land.
More than 3 million people visit this symbol of freedom every year. Here’s how the Lady measures up.
Right Arm and Torch
Liberty’s right arm is 42 feet long, and her torch is 24 feet tall. The torch is a symbol of Liberty bringing the light of freedom to the world.
Hand: 16 feet, 5 inches
Index Finger: 8 feet
Crown and Rays
This is the highest point of the statue that is now open to the public. The crown has 25 windows that allow people to see for miles. Seven spikes form the rays, which are a symbol of Liberty’s divine halo.
Longest Ray above Crown: 11 feet, 6 inches
Hair
Lady Liberty has thick and wavy hair, which has been pulled into a bun. That was the style in the nineteenth century.
Eye: 2 feet, 6 inches wide
Nose: 4 feet, 6 inches long
Mouth: 3 feet wide
Left Arm and Tablet
Liberty’s left hand holds a tablet with the date of the signing of the Declaration of Independence in Roman numerals: July IV, MDCCLXXVI.
Clothing
Liberty is dressed like other statues of Roman goddesses. She wears a palla, a cloak that fastens at the left shoulder with a clasp. Beneath it is a stola, which falls to her feet.
Copper Plates: 350, approximately 3⁄32 inch thick, form the “skin” of the statue.
Steps
There is a double spiral staircase inside the hollow statue. People go up one staircase and down the other. It takes 354 steps to get to the crown.
Feet
Liberty is wearing sandals, and her right foot is raised. That makes it look like she is in motion. Each one of her sandals is 25 feet long, which would be U.S. women’s shoe size 879
Shackle
At the bottom of the statue is a broken chain that disappears under Lady Liberty’s clothing and reappears just in front of her left foot. It is a symbol for the recent breaking of the chains of slavery after the U.S. Civil War.
Observation Balcony
On the top of the pedestal, below the statue’s feet, there’s a place where visitors can walk outside. On a clear day, they can see for 15 miles.
Pedestal
The pedestal stands 10 stories high. Its concrete walls are 20 feet thick. They are covered with granite blocks. The workers who built the walls mixed pennies, nickels, and dimes into the wet concrete to celebrate a job well done.
Emma Lazarus’s now-famous poem was written to raise money for the statue. It’s displayed in the statue’s museum, which is on the second floor of the pedestal. ▼
The New Colossus
Not like the brazen giant of Greek fame,
With conquering limbs astride from land to land;
Here at our sea-washed, sunset gates shall stand
A mighty woman with a torch, whose flame
Is the imprisoned lightning, and her name
Mother of Exiles. From her beacon-hand
Glows world-wide welcome; her mild eyes command
The air-bridged harbor that twin cities frame.
“Keep, ancient lands, your storied pomp!” cries she
With silent lips. “Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore,
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me,
I lift my lamp beside the golden door!”
—Emma Lazarus, 1883
