Liberty Enlightening the World, known more commonly as the Statue of Liberty, is a statue given to the United States by France in the late 19th century, standing at Liberty Island in the mouth of the Hudson River in New York Harbor as a welcome to all visitors, immigrants, and returning Americans.

The copper statue, dedicated on October 28, 1886, commemorates the centennial of the United States and is a gesture of friendship between the two nations. The sculptor was Frederic Auguste Bartholdi, and Gustave Eiffel, the designer of the Eiffel Tower, engineered the internal supporting structure. The Statue of Liberty is one of the most recognizable icons of the U.S. worldwide [10], and, in a more general sense, represents liberty and escape from oppression. The Statue of Liberty was, from 1886 until the Jet age, often the first glimpse of the United States for millions of American immigrants after ocean voyages from Europe.

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