The statue weighing over 450 kilograms (992 pounds) and around 10 feet tall will be erected on Ellis Island, just across the water from the original, from July 1 to 5.
Made in 2009, it is an exact replica of the original 1878 plaster model preserved by Paris based National Museum of Arts and Crafts NMAC will be surprised to the New Yorkers for US independence Day on July 4.
This new bronze statue, nicknamed the “little sister,” is one-sixteenth the size of the world-famous one that stands on Liberty Island.
On Monday-July 7, during a special ceremony, the smaller sibling was lifted and loaded into a special container at NMAC in central Paris, where it has been installed since 2011 in the museum’s garden.
The statue symbolizes freedom and the light around the world gives the message that France’s friendship with the United States is very important, the NMAC stated.
The replica bears the same neoclassic design as its “big sister” in New York, who represents the Roman goddess Libertas and measures 151 feet tall atop the giant pedestal. She is imbued with symbolism: the crown with seven spikes, representing sun rays extending out to the world; a tablet inscribed with America’s date of independence in Roman numerals; and broken chains and shackles lying at its left foot, signifying the abolition of slavery in the United States.
The date of the ceremony was symbolic as well, held just after the 77th anniversary of D-Day during World War II, when American and other Allied soldiers landed on French soil in 1944, marking the beginning of the liberation of Western Europe from Nazi occupation.
The iconic Statue of Liberty that arrived in New York in 1886 was also meant to strengthen the Franco-American friendship, at a time when Paris and Washington were slowly drifting apart, as French historian André Kaspi reminded in a speech during the ceremony.
The 225-ton Statue of Liberty believed to be the value of freedom erected in the middle of the sea in New York was also gifted by France.
