Free
Here’s the problem: How do you turn a 4-foot clay model into a 151-foot statue?
The answer: Very slowly and carefully.
Pointing Up
Here’s how it was done:
A wooden framework was built around a model. Points were marked on the model. The height, width, and depth of each point were measured from the framework.
▲ Workers build the final wood-and-plaster model of Liberty’s hand.
Repoussé
Once the full-size model was finished:
Workers built wooden forms. These forms were made in the same shape as the plaster pieces.
Skeleton
Here’s how the skeleton, or main support, was built:
Workers built a central tower. It was made of four vertical iron beams. These beams were held together by vertical and horizontal iron bars.
Hundreds of diagonal iron bars were attached to the tower. They were connected to a web of iron “ribs.” The ribs had been bent to follow the shape of the statue’s inner surface.
The ribs were bolted to the inside of Liberty’s copper “skin.” ▶
Liberty’s head and crown was the second part of the statue to be built. In 1878, it led a parade through the streets of Paris. Then it was shown at the Paris World’s Fair. There, thousands of people climbed 36 steps to look out the windows of Liberty’s crown. ▶
◀ In 1883, workmen began building the iron skeleton. They started with Liberty’s feet and worked their way up her body. They stood on a big scaffold, or framework of ramps and ladders.
