The Statue of Liberty Museum is located on
Liberty Island
Liberty Island is a federally owned island in Upper New York Bay in the United States. Its most notable feature is the Statue of Liberty (''Liberty Enlightening the World''), a large statue by Frédéric Auguste Bartholdi that was dedicated in ...
in
New York City
New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...
. The museum opened on May 16, 2019, and is focused on the creation, meaning, and history of the
Statue of Liberty
The Statue of Liberty (''Liberty Enlightening the World''; French: ''La Liberté éclairant le monde'') is a List of colossal sculpture in situ, colossal neoclassical sculpture on Liberty Island in New York Harbor in New York City, in the U ...
(formally ''Liberty Enlightening the World''), a large statue by
Frédéric Auguste Bartholdi
Frédéric Auguste Bartholdi ( , ; 2 August 1834 – 4 October 1904) was a French sculptor and painter. He is best known for designing ''Liberty Enlightening the World'', commonly known as the Statue of Liberty.
Early life and education
Barthold ...
which the people of France gave to the people of the United States in 1886.
Exhibits
The original torch, carried by ''Liberty'' from 1886 to 1984, is located in the museum. The museum includes exhibits relating to the statue's construction and history, and a theater where visitors can watch an aerial view of the statue.
The exhibits include more than 500 photographs and graphics from more than 100 different sources. Examples include rare historic photos of the statue's construction from the
Musée Bartholdi in
Colmar, France, and sketches of early designs for the pedestal from the
Library of Congress
The Library of Congress (LOC) is the research library that officially serves the United States Congress and is the ''de facto'' national library of the United States. It is the oldest federal cultural institution in the country. The library is ...
. The exhibition was designed by the New York firm ESI Design.
Funding
The museum was funded privately by