Welcome to History's Not Boring by Kidopoly.com. I'm Mira. And I'm Finn. Before we start time travelling, we have a massive shout out to Nora, who is nine and lives in Paris, France. Paris? That is so cool! It really is. Nora sees the Eiffel Tower almost every week, and she wrote in to ask if it is really true that the Statue of Liberty was made in France. This one is for you, Nora, and the answer is a big yes.
SPEAKER_01We also want to send the very best of luck to Kai in Costa Rica. Kai is playing in a big sports tournament for the very first time this week.
SPEAKER_00We are all cheering for you, Kai. Go and enjoy every single minute of it.
SPEAKER_01So, Mira, since we are talking about the Statue of Liberty for Nora, how big is she really?
SPEAKER_00Well, Finn, imagine a statue so gigantic that her nose alone is four and a half feet long. What? Her nose is almost as tall as me! Exactly! Her waist is 35 feet wide, and if she needed to buy shoes, she would wear a size 879. Size 879? That's bigger than a car! You bet! Today we are exploring how a giant copper lady holding a torch was built entirely in France, chopped into 350 pieces, and shipped across the wild Atlantic Ocean.
SPEAKER_01Let's find out how a present made in France became the most famous symbol of America.
SPEAKER_00Our story starts back in 1865, in France, shortly after the American Civil War ended.
SPEAKER_01So wait, why was France building a statue for America?
SPEAKER_00Well, a French thinker named Edouard René de Laboulay loved the idea of freedom. He wanted to give the United States a massive monument to celebrate their independence and the friendship between France and America.
SPEAKER_01That is a really nice gift. Usually I just give people a card.
SPEAKER_00A bit bigger than a card. Laboulay shared his idea with a talented French sculptor named Frederick Auguste Bartholdi. Bartholdi had huge dreams and he was obsessed with building colossal statues. Did he know where to put it? Not at first. But in 1871, Bartholdi sailed into New York Harbour and spotted a tiny piece of land called Bedloe's Island. He knew instantly it was the perfect spot, because every single ship entering New York had to sail right past it.
SPEAKER_01So it would be the very first thing people saw when they arrived.
SPEAKER_00Exactly. He designed a lady wearing robes, holding a torch high in the air to light the way, and holding a tablet with the date of America's independence, July 4, 1776, written on it.
SPEAKER_01But who paid for all this? A 151-foot statue must cost a fortune.
SPEAKER_00It was totally crowdfunded. They made a deal. The French people would pay to build the statue, and the American people would pay to build the giant stone pedestal for her to stand on. Wow! So regular people pitched in to make it happen? They did! Bartholdi set up a massive workshop in Paris. To make her lightweight, he decided she would be hollow inside, with a skin made entirely of pure copper. Copper?
SPEAKER_01Like a penny? But wait, how did they build a 151-foot statue? Did they carve a giant block of metal?
SPEAKER_00Nope. They use a technique called repousset. Carpenters built massive wooden moulds of the statue's body parts. Then, workers took flat sheets of copper and hammered them from the inside until they bent into the perfect shape of a face or an arm.
SPEAKER_01Hammering giant sheets of metal by hand. That must have been deafening.
SPEAKER_00Very loud. They shaped over 300 pieces of copper this way. And Finn, here's a crazy fact. The copper skin is incredibly thin. It's only 33 seconds of an inch thick. Wait, how thin is that? It is literally the thickness of two pennies stacked together. But because she is so huge, all that copper still weighs 62,000 pounds.
SPEAKER_01But if she's hollow and thin, won't she just blow over in the ocean winds?
SPEAKER_00That was the big problem. So, in 1879, Bartholdi called a brilliant engineer to help. Someone who knew exactly how to make tall metal structures survive the wind. Who did he call? He called Gustave Eiffel! And yes, Nora, that is the exact same Eiffel who later built the Eiffel Tower in Paris. No way! He built the Statue of Liberty's skeleton. He sure did. Eiffel designed a massive 92-foot-tall iron pylon, like a giant metal spine, right up her centre. Then he attached a flexible iron framework that acts like ribs, connecting the spine to the copper skin. So she can actually move? Yes. In a 50 mile per hour wind, her whole body sways three inches, and her torch sways six inches. By 1884, she was fully built and towering high over the rooftops of Paris.
SPEAKER_01Okay, but how on earth do you get a 151-foot statue from a park in Paris all the way across the Atlantic Ocean to New York? You do the unthinkable. You take her entirely apart. They dismantled the giant puzzle they just built.
SPEAKER_00Yep. In 1885, workers unbolted all 350 pieces and packed them carefully into exactly 214 massive wooden crates.
SPEAKER_01That is the most extreme moving day in history.
SPEAKER_00It really was. The crates were loaded onto a French navy ship called the Azaire. In May 1885, she set sail. But a massive Atlantic storm hit. The ship pitched so hard in the terrible waves that the crew thought the heavy crates were going to sink them. Did they make it? They survived. On June 17, 1885, the Azair arrived safely in New York Harbour. But there was a gigantic problem waiting for them. What was wrong? Did they lose the instructions? Worse. America hadn't raised enough money, so the stone pedestal wasn't finished. The world's most famous statue just sat in boxes for months. That's terrible. How did they fix it? A famous newspaper publisher named Joseph Pulitzer had already started a massive fundraising drive before she arrived. He promised to print the name of every single person who donated. Even if they only gave a penny. Kids sent in their pocket money, and one group of kids even sent a dollar they had saved for the circus. That is amazing teamwork. It worked! Over 120,000 people donated. They finally built the pedestal, reassembled her piece by piece, and on October 28, 1886, she was unveiled to over a million cheering people in the pouring rain.
SPEAKER_01So when she was unveiled in 1886, did she look exactly like she does today?
SPEAKER_00Actually, no! This is one of my favourite facts. Today, we know the Statue of Liberty is a beautiful mint green colour, right?
SPEAKER_01Yeah, a big green lady holding a torch.
SPEAKER_00Well, because she is made of pure copper, when she was first put together, she was shiny and reddish brown. She sparkled in the sun, just like a brand new penny.
SPEAKER_01Wait, really? A giant shiny penny statue? Why did she turn green?
SPEAKER_00It's science! When copper is exposed to rain, wind, and the salty ocean air, a chemical reaction happens called oxidation. It took about 20 to 30 years, and by 1920, she was completely covered in a green layer called a patina.
SPEAKER_01So she literally rusted into a new colour.
SPEAKER_00That's awesome! And the green patina actually protects the copper underneath from wearing away. Fun fact, in 1906, politicians thought the green meant she was decaying, so they tried to pass a law to paint her. Paint the Statue of Liberty? What colour? Probably some boring grey or bronze. But the public protested so much that they cancelled the plan. Oh, and here's another crazy fact. Because she's a giant metal tower in the middle of a harbour, she gets struck by lightning around 600 times a year. 600 times? She is seriously tough. Extremely tough. And for millions of immigrants arriving by ship at Ellis Island over the next century, she was the very first thing they saw. A giant, towering symbol of welcome and hope in a brand new country. Alright, Finn, time for the quiz. Are you ready?
SPEAKER_01Okay, I'm ready.
SPEAKER_00First question. How many wooden crates was she packed into for the voyage? Next one. What was the name of the famous engineer who built her iron skeleton? Question three. What colour was the Statue of Liberty originally? Here's number four. Exactly how thick is her copper skin. Last question. What was the name of the French ship that carried her across the ocean? Great job! Let's see how you did. The first answer is she was packed into exactly 214 crates. For question two, the engineer was Gustave Eiffel. Number three, the answer is she was originally shiny reddish brown, like a new penny. Question four. Her copper skin is only three thirty seconds of an inch thick, or about two pennies stacked together. And the final answer is, the ship was called the Azair.
SPEAKER_01I still can't get over the fact that they built a giant 151 foot puzzle without instructions. I know, right? Imagine trying to find the piece that looks like a giant copper elbow. It really makes me want to go to New York to see her in real life.
SPEAKER_00Same here. Hey, if you listeners loved learning about the Statue of Liberty today, please leave us a five-star review. It helps other time travellers find our show.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, just scroll down on your podcast app and tap the five stars.
SPEAKER_00Oh, and don't forget to head over to our site kidopoly.com for more cool stuff to explore. We've got tons of fun learning games and activities there.
SPEAKER_01And if you want a shout out on the show, or just want to say hi, send us an email at hello at kidopoly.com.
SPEAKER_00Thanks for exploring with us. See you next time on History's Not Boring. Bye everyone.