While most associate the Statue of Liberty with New York, its French roots and representations can be found all over France. Gifted in the 1880s to symbolize Franco-American ties, the statue represents Libertas, the Roman goddess of liberty. French political thinker Édouard de Laboulaye proposed the gift to honor America's abolition of slavery and highlight its role as a beacon of freedom. Designed by Frédéric August Bartholdi and engineered by Gustave Eiffel, the statue's history intertwines deeply with themes of liberty and alliance between nations.
The Statue of Liberty, towering 93 metres tall on New York's Liberty Island, is a global icon. Symbolic of America, the statue is in fact French - and one French politician has demanded that the Trump-era USA return it, as it no longer represents the values that led France to offer the gift.
The statue was gifted to the United States by France in the 1880s as a way to commemorate the alliance between the two countries that stretched back to the American Revolution against the British - during this conflict, France sent more soldiers than the Americans and the British combined.
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