One of the most well-known landmarks in the world, the Statue of Liberty is synonymous with freedom and liberty. Situated in New York Harbor on Liberty Island, the statue is situated just two miles from the tip of Manhattan and just 2,000 feet from Jersey City, N.J., according to Spiritus-Temporis.com. However, while you may be well-versed in some of the main facts about the looming Lady Liberty, there are some interesting tidbits about the statue's physical features that you might not know.
The Statue of Liberty depicts a tall female form with a torch in one hand and a tablet in the other. The tablet has a date on it--JULY IV MDCCLXXVI---which depicts the day of America's independence from England. She has chains on her feet and there are seven spikes in the crown of the statue, which stand for the seven continents or seven seas of the world.
She measures in at 305 feet from the top of the torch all the way to the ground; this measurement considers the foundation on which the statue stands as well as her pedestal. The statue alone measures at 151 feet. Moreover, according to The Statue of Liberty-Ellis Island Foundation Inc., the face of the statue is more than eight feet in height. The weight of the statue overall is 225 tons, and her waistline is 35 feet in diameter.
A restoration of the statue was completed in 1986. During the process, the torch of the Statue of Liberty was covered in 24 karat gold. The torch was also also rebuilt during this process, with copper that had already been aged to match the existing hue of the rest of the statue. An elevator was also installed at this time, though visitors still have the option of climbing the 354 steps to the crown.
It is a common misconception that the Statue of Liberty is green. In fact, she is made entirely of copper, which starts out as a shiny rich brown color. However, after years of the natural oxidizing process of the metal, the green patina is the color now associated with the statue. The rich green of the copper was one of the only things not changed during the reconstruction of the statue in 1986.
The 25 windows lining the crown are meant to represent gemstones or natural minerals of the Earth, according to Endex.com. Lady Liberty's dress represents 4,000 square yards of fabric, and her shoe size, according to measurements used to determine contemporary shoe sizes, is 879.
