Wednesday, June 23, 2010

STATUE OF LIBERTY



Up the street from our apartment in the Marais in Paris is the Carnavalet Museum. Located in two magnificent, adjoining townhouses, the museum is filled with thousands of items documenting the history of the City of Paris. One of the most surprising is a small painting by Victor Dargaud. It depicts a colossal statue - La Liberté Eclairant Le Monde (Liberty Enlightening the World) -  in a  residential Parisian street. Wreathed in scaffolding, she lifts her copper torch high above the surrounding buildings. Fashionably-dressed 19th-century Parisians, perhaps on their way home from a Sunday stroll in the nearby Parc Monceau, gaze upward at this grande dame.

Last month as we prepared to leave Paris, it looked for a while as if the eruption of the Icelandic volcano might cancel our flight back to the United States. The painting came to mind as I began musing on the possibility of a transatlantic crossing on a stately ocean liner. At the end of the journey, we'd sail into New York harbor, where that same French grande dame - now known as the Statue of Liberty - would be waiting to greet us.

An icon of America and a symbol of welcome for millions of immigrants at the turn of the 20th century, the Statue of Liberty was a gift to the United States from the people of France in 1884. 

The idea of a sculpture to commemorate French-American friendship was the brainchild of Edouard René de Laboulaye and a group of influential French citizens. De Laboulaye, a writer and politician, was an admirer of the American Constitution and a proponent of a French republic with similar democratic principles. In 1866, De Laboulaye gave the commission to the young French sculptor Frédéric Auguste Bartholdi, who drew up plans for the Statue of Liberty. American funds would be used to buy the land and to pay for the statue's pedestal.

De Laboulaye wanted the statue to be ready for the Centennial of the signing of the Declaration of Independence in 1876.  However, other commissions for Bartholdi, technical issues, the Franco-Prussian War and problems with financing on the US side pushed back the date. Liberty arrived in the United States - very fashionably late - in 1884 and was dedicated in 1886.

In 1900, my then 21-year old Italian grandfather sailed into New York harbor on the Georgia, a ship out of Genoa. On his way to the immigration center on Ellis Island, he passed the Statue of Liberty. He was seven years older  than the Statue herself, but she was already famous and he was just one of millions of people looking for a better life in America. Some years later, my Romanian grandparents would arrive and they, too, would gaze at the Statue of Liberty with wonder and some trepidation.


Next year, Liberty will celebrate her 125th birthday. She has been many things to many people: a symbol of  international friendship; a call for a democratic republic in France; a repudiation of slavery; and a beacon of hope to immigrants arriving on American shores. Most recently, in the wake of September 11, she has come to stand for  courage in the face of adversity.

As time has passed, Liberty's French ancestry has faded from the public consciousness. It seems that, along with my ancestors and millions of other immigrants, the Grande Dame of France has become an American - albeit one who still has an unmistakable French elegance about her. 


Take a virtual tour of the Statue of Liberty by clicking here.

To see more photos, click here.








Geraldine


All photos unless otherwise noted, by Geraldine Calisti Kaylor


5 comments:

  1. What a lovely post. I remember climbing the stairs up to the top of the Statue of Liberty as a kid. I was glad I got to see it, and the view from up there, but I'm not sure I'd take on those steps again. I, too, had immigrant grandparents--one set from Scotland, and one also from Romania. I love the painting, Geraldine!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Ah yes, transatlantic ocean crossings. I've only made two--back and forth to Germany for my junior year abroad during high school. We traveled on small Greek Line ships, but it was one of the most romantic experiences of my young life. After our last airplane crossing of the Atlantic, I vowed that I would never return to Europe unless it was on an ocean liner.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Hi,
    Are you aware that your email address has been hacked? I received the following email from you
    " I'm writing with tears in my eyes,my family and I came down here to (Buckinghamshire) United Kingdom, for a short vacation unfortunately we were mugged at the park of the hotel where we stayed,all cash,credit cards and cell were stolen off us but luckily for us we still have our passports with us.

    I have been to the embassy and the Police here but they're not helping issues at all and our flight leaves pretty soon from now but we're having problems settling the hotel bills and the hotel manager won't let us leave until we settle the bills. your contribution will go along way here. Please be so kind to reply back so i can tell you what to do and how to get some cash to us...

    Am freaked out at the moment.

    --
    Geraldine Kaylor
    Ann Arbor, Michigan"
    http://traveloyster.blogspot.com/

    I assume that everyone in your contact list received the same. I suggest you change your password and contact your friends to tell them not to reply in any way.

    Good luck. It's a pain!

    ReplyDelete
  4. Just for info, the same thing happened to Susie of Jeddah daily photo (I don't know if you know her blog : Susie's big Adventure http://susiesbigadventure.blogspot.com?)

    She tells all about it in her post dated 6 March:
    http://susiesbigadventure.blogspot.com/2010/03/hacked-true-story.html

    Her advice might help you manage it all?

    ReplyDelete
  5. Thanks for the alert. I was aware of it. I have taken steps to secure all of my accounts and they and the blog are back in my hands. Google was quite helpful and all is now well.

    ReplyDelete

Thanks for your comments.