STATUE OF LIBERTY.

Statue of Liberty, is one of the most famous monuments in New York, the United States and around the world.

 It is located on Liberty Island south of Manhattan Island, next to the mouth of the Hudson River and near Ellis Island. The Statue of Liberty was a gift from the French to the Americans in 1886 to commemorate the centenary of the Declaration of Independence of the United States and as a sign of friendship between the two nations. It was inaugurated on October 28, 1886 in the presence of the American president of the time, Grover Cleveland.

 The statue is the work of the French sculptor Frédéric Auguste Bartholdi and the internal structure was designed by the engineer Alexandre Gustave Eiffel. [2] The French architect Eugène Viollet-le-Duc was responsible for the choice of copper used for the construction of the statue. On October 15, 1924, the statue was declared a national monument of the United States and on October 15, 1965 Ellis Island was added. Since 1984 it is considered a World Heritage Site by Unesco. [2]

The Statue of Liberty, in addition to being an important monument in New York City, became a symbol in the United States and represents, on a more general level, freedom and emancipation with respect to oppression. Since its inauguration in 1886, the statue was the first vision that European immigrants had when arriving in the United States after crossing the Atlantic Ocean.
 In architectural terms, the statue is reminiscent of the famous Colossus of Rhodes, one of the "seven wonders of the world." She was nominated for the "new wonders of the world", where she was a finalist.
The name assigned by Unesco is «National Monument Statue of Liberty». Since June 10, 1933, the National Parks Service of the United States has been responsible for its administration.

The statue represents a woman in an upright position, dressed in a kind of wide stole and on her head has a crown with seven peaks, symbolizing the seven continents and the seven seas. [59] There are 25 windows in the crown that represent gems found on the earth and the rays of the sky that shine on the world. [59] The diadem remembers the one that carried Helios, personification of the Sun in Greek mythology. Bartholdi opted for the crown, and decided not to wear the Phrygian cap, a symbol of freedom since antiquity. The statue holds in its right hand a lit torch, held aloft.
The torch refers us to the century of lights, although some consider it a freemason symbol. [60] In his left hand he holds a tablet, which he holds close to his body.
The tablet evokes the law or the right, and has the date of the signing of the Declaration of Independence of the United States, written in Roman numerals: JULY IV MDCCLXXVI

Lighting system
The original lighting system has been replaced several times by more modern equipment. In 1916 President Woodrow Wilson inaugurated the first system that introduces the lighting of the statue, consisting of two hundred and forty-six projectors, using 250 W incandescent lamps, located at the tips of the star at the base of the monument and other points on the island, and fifteen 500 W on the torch. Later, in 1931 and 1945 the previous illumination intensified, more colorful effects were added and shadows were eliminated.

Redesign of the torch
Together with the lighting improvement project of 1916, the torch, which was initially of copper, was renovated using a total of 600 individual stained glass pieces of yellow color to enhance and beautify the lighting effects upon lighting.
 This work was executed by Gutzon Borglum, known for his colossal sculptures of Mount Rushmore. The light output of the torch was also increased. On July 30 of the same year, due to an act of sabotage known as Explosion Black Tom, access to the torch was officially closed. [31] [45]

Elevator and heating
Although the construction of the base began, the installation of an elevator was already planned, the first was not installed until 1908-9. Subsequently it was replaced by a more modern one in 1931.

In 1949 a heating system was installed at the base of the statue.
 Before this improvement, during the winter months, the enormous mass of the base (about 48,000 tons) became increasingly cold, and when the air became warmer there was a condensation that impregnated the walls and harmed the structure and its facilities. On the other hand, the heating, in addition to solving the problems of cooling and condensation in the base, added greater comfort to employees and visitors.

Structural improvements
In 1937 several platforms and stairs were replaced on the pedestal of the statue. We proceeded to an inspection of the structure and the copper plates of the statue, from the torch to the beams on which the structure rests.
The iron support was replaced in the sections where it had been oxidized, and the rivets that had been released were replaced by new ones and the frames of the crown of the head were reconstructed with new iron ones.
 No renovations were made to the spiral staircase inside the statue.