Statue_Of_Liberty

Statue Of Liberty The Construction of the Statue of Liberty The construction of the Statue of Liberty began in France in 1875 by sculptor Auguste Bartholdi. He was commissioned to design a sculpture that would be completed by 1876. It was not finished until June of 1885.The Statue was a joint effort between America and France. The American people were to build the pedestal, and the French people were responsible to build the Statue. It was to be assembled in the United States. (Pickin, 208) Lack of funds became a problem for both America and France. The French used public fees and various forms of entertainment. Gounod, the famous composer, wrote a song to the statue which he presented at the Paris Opera. In the spring of 1878 a lottery was organized to help with the funds. There was a law in France that permitted lotteries for charitable and artistic causes. The Statue of Liberty qualified under both of these. It was soon discovered that the statue would cost much more than they first thought. The final cost of approximately $250,000 was completely contributed by the French people. The French government did not have to aid in the construction of the statue. In America, the statue, pedestal, liberty, copper, united, funds, french, feet, –, states, new, model, made, france, four, each, blair, york, torch, construction, completed, committee, weight, tablet, stone, people, iron, height, harbor, famous, built, bartholdi, america, work, until