Statue of Liberty Museum facts for kids
The Statue of Liberty Museum is a cool place to visit on Liberty Island in New York City. It opened on May 16, 2019. This museum teaches you all about the Statue of Liberty. You can learn how it was made, what it means, and its long history. The famous statue, also called Liberty Enlightening the World, was a gift from the people of France to the United States in 1886.
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What You Can See at the Museum
One of the most exciting things to see is the original torch from the Statue of Liberty! This is the torch Liberty held from 1886 until 1984.
The museum has many exhibits that show how the statue was built. You can also learn about its journey through history. There's even a special theater where you can watch a video. It shows you what the statue looks like from high up in the sky!
The exhibits use more than 500 photos and pictures. These come from over 100 different places. For example, you can see rare old photos of the statue being built. These pictures came from the Musée Bartholdi in Colmar, France. There are also early drawings of the statue's base. These are from the Library of Congress. A company called ESI Design from New York created all these cool exhibits.
How the Museum Was Paid For
The Statue of Liberty Museum was built with money from private donations. Many people and companies helped pay for it. Some of these include Diane von Fürstenberg, Michael Bloomberg, and Jeff Bezos. Companies like Coca-Cola and NBCUniversal also helped. The families of Laurence Tisch and Preston Robert Tisch gave money too. Other supporters were Mellody Hobson and George Lucas.
Diane von Fürstenberg led the effort to raise money for the museum. By October 6, 2016, when construction began, more than $40 million had been raised.
Building the Museum
Work on the new Statue of Liberty Museum started in early October 2016. The museum cost $70 million to build. It is about 26,000-square-foot (2,400 m2) in size. This new museum is big enough for everyone who visits Liberty Island each day. The old museum could only hold about 20 percent of the daily visitors.
The museum was designed by a company called FXCollaborative. It was built to fit in nicely with the parkland around it. When the museum first opened, tour guides were not allowed in some parts of the island. This included certain areas inside the museum.
See also
- List of single-artist museums
- Musée Bartholdi
Images for kids
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In Spanish: Museo de la Estatua de la Libertad para niños
