Happy Birthday America.
In the Jardin du Luxembourg there is a small scale replica of the Statue of Liberty. I took my camera with me on my morning walk this morning and took a few pictures for my American relatives and friends.
Most don't know it but there are actually several original Statues of Liberty. Before Bartholdi and Eiffel built the full scale Statue of Liberty, they built scale models for construction that were smaller ... two of which are in Paris and another in Alsace ... there are others but I don't know their location. There are also dozens of replica Statues around the world.
The smaller of the two Paris models can be found today in the east side of the Jardin de Luxembourg, in a clump of trees not far from the garden's entrance from rue de Medicis. A Tree of Liberty was added in June 1993 by the American Ambassador to France to commemorate the 200th anniversary of Franco-American friendship. An information panel on the pedestal claims that it is a bronze model used by Bartholdi as part of the preparatory work for the New York statue.
The artist offered it to the Luxembourg museum in 1900 and it was placed in the park in 1906. The date written on this statue's tablet is "15 novembre 1889" the date at which the larger Parisian model was inaugurated. Several bridges west of the Tour Eiffel, just west of the Pont de Grenelle, on its own island, Swan Island (Allée des Cygnes) in the Seine River, is the larger model which I do not have picture of yet since it is a long walk but will try to take one today and add it to the blog. I did finally walk to Swan Island and got the picture below and will post a separate blog with others as well.
I also discovered that this Statue originally faced the Tour Eiffel to honour him but he complained bitterly and asked that it be turned to face America and the authorities eventually honoured his request.
It was dedicated on October 28, 1886. The statue was a gift to the United States from the people of France.
It is of a robed female figure representing Libertas, the Roman goddess of freedom, who bears a torch and a tabula ansata (a tablet evoking the law) upon which is inscribed the date of the American Declaration of Independence. A broken chain lies at her feet. The statue has become an icon of freedom and of the United States.
Not well known or remembered but there is an inscription at the base of the Statue that is worth repeating for my American friends following my blog on this the birthday of their country.
“The New Colossus’’ By Emma Lazarus
Not well known or remembered but there is an inscription at the base of the Statue that is worth repeating for my American friends following my blog on this the birthday of their country.
“The New Colossus’’ By Emma Lazarus
Not like the brazen giant of Greek fame,
With conquering limbs astride from land to land;
Here at our sea-washed, sunset gates shall stand
A mighty woman with a torch, whose flame
Is the imprisoned lightning, and her name
Mother of Exiles. From her beacon-hand
Glows world-wide welcome; her mild eyes command
The air-bridged harbor that twin cities frame.
“Keep ancient lands, your storied pomp!’’ cries she
With silent lips. “Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me,
I lift my lamp beside the golden door!’’
Here at our sea-washed, sunset gates shall stand
A mighty woman with a torch, whose flame
Is the imprisoned lightning, and her name
Mother of Exiles. From her beacon-hand
Glows world-wide welcome; her mild eyes command
The air-bridged harbor that twin cities frame.
“Keep ancient lands, your storied pomp!’’ cries she
With silent lips. “Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me,
I lift my lamp beside the golden door!’’
It kinda describes what America is all about wouldn't you say??
Life if good ... enjoy
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