135 years after the unveiling of “Liberty Enlightening the World” on Liberty Island, another Statue of Liberty is about to arrive on the other side of the Atlantic.
★ The French Embassy in the United States, the National Conservatory of Arts and Crafts (Cnam) and the CMA CGM Group, world leader in maritime transport and logistics, are joining forces to celebrate Franco-French freedom and friendship. American by bringing “Lady Liberty’s” little sister “to America.
★ The 2.83m high bronze statue, made from the original 1878 plaster model of Auguste Bartholdi and previously exhibited at the Musée des Arts et Métiers in Paris, will be exhibited at Ellis Island on Independence Day before to be installed outside the residence of the French Ambassador in Washington, DC, on Bastille Day (July 14).
L’French Embassy in the United States, the National Conservatory of Arts and Crafts (Cnam) and the CMA CGM Group, a world leader in shipping and logistics, are teaming up to bring another iconic treasure and symbol of freedom to the United States. Arriving in New York for American Independence Day on July 4 and Washington DC for French National Day on July 14, the 9 foot bronze statue of Lady Liberty was made from the plaster model original from 1878 by Auguste Bartholdi, currently exhibited at Museum of Arts and Crafts in Paris.
Paris, Le Havre, New York, Ellis Island, Washington
Made by a French foundry using the lost wax method, this smaller version of the Statue of Liberty (283 x 75 x 75 cm, 322 kg), was removed on June 7 during a small ceremony at the Cnam, where it was displayed at the entrance, welcoming guests for 10 years.
engraving published in The Scientific American, May 1884
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Its big sister, which, let us remember, has impressive dimensions (a weight of 225 tons for 93 meters in height) had been assembled in Paris by the ateliers Gaget-Gauthier rue de Chazelles, very close to Parc Monceau. The Gaget-Gauthier workshops were then specialized in everything related to roofing, plumbing, water distribution in cities, but also art work in lead and copper.
It is this same house which had restored in 1873 the Vendôme column cut down on May 16, 1871 during the Commune.
The fine flower of architecture and technology of the time had then contributed to its design of this Statue of Liberty, this strong symbol between America and France and more than any symbol of the spirit of the Enlightenment.
Its very dimensions posed a technical challenge. So Eugene Viollet-le-Duc had the idea of the repoussé technique and Gustave Eiffel imagined the axial structural device inside the statue itself.
The first idea for the Statue of Liberty came to Bartholdi, from the project he had designed a few years earlier for a statue to be installed at the entrance to the Suez Canal.
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This Statue of Liberty, which now travels across the Atlantic, was cast in bronze in 2011 from an original model, a plaster statue made by Bartholdi, part of the permanent exhibition of the Musée des Arts et Métiers (au 1 / 16th of its big New York sister).
Departing from Paris, the replica statue was installed in a specially designed plexiglass case before being placed in a dedicated and branded shipping container. On June 19, the statue was taken aboard the CMA CGM TOSCA (an 8,500 TEU vessel) at Havre. She will reach New York after a nine-day Atlantic crossing. From then on, it will be exposed to Ellis Island from July 1 to 5, joining her big sister to celebrate Independence Day thanks to a cooperation agreement with the Statue of Liberty – Ellis Island Foundation and the National Park Service.
Then it will be transported by road by CEVA Logistics, a subsidiary of the CMA CGM Group, until its final destination, the residence of the French Ambassador in Washington DC, where it will be unveiled on July 14 as a symbol of the permanence of Franco-American friendship. She will return to France in 2031.
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