The Statue of Liberty at 125 Years

Liberty in the Workshop
Bartholdi was inspired in part by law professor and politician Édouard René de Laboulaye, who remarked that any monument raised to American independence should be a joint effort between French and American people. Though Laboulaye did not intend his after-dinner conversation to be taken as a formal proposal, he would become a strong ally of Bartholdi and crucial in rallying public support for the monument's construction, the beginnings of which are pictured here in Bartholdi's workshop, circa 1883.

• Sorry, Tourists: Statue of Liberty Will Close for a Year