the Statue of Liberty

 A monumental replica of the Statue of Liberty will be raised on the grounds in the rear of the Brooklyn Museum in October 2005. Created in the late nineteenth century by immigrant artisans as a gesture of patriotism, it was originally installed atop a Manhattan building where it stood for one hundred years. The statue was a gift to the Brooklyn Museum in 2002 by The Athena Group, Athena Liberty-Lofts L.P., and Brickman Associates, who removed it from the building when it was being turned into cooperative apartments.

In its new ground-level home at the Brooklyn Museum, the statue will be viewable up close and on all sides. About one-fifth the height of the Bartholdi original, the sculpture will undergo conservation efforts in view of visitors beginning in the spring of 2006 while positioned in its new location. The 47-foot-high Statue of Liberty and pedestal was originally installed in 1902 on auctioneer William H. Flattau’s Liberty Storage Warehouse at 43 West 64th Street, where it was once one of the highest points on the Upper West Side. Until 1912 visitors were able to ascend an interior spiral staircase to view Broadway and Columbus Circle through Lady Liberty’s crown. Made of galvanized steel over an iron framework and fully modeled in three dimensions, it is thought to have been created in a foundry in either Pennsylvania or Ohio.

The statue is the latest and largest addition to the Brooklyn Museum’s Frieda Schiff Warburg Memorial Sculpture Garden –– a collection of architectural fragments salvaged from New York City buildings that were being demolished, including Pennsylvania Station and Coney Island’s Steeplechase Park.

Since its arrival at the Museum in 2002, the statue has been lying on its back in a secured area of the parking lot, where, along with other objects in the collection, it has undergone review and evaluation by Museum conservators in preparation for its reinstallation. The conservation treatment will include cleaning of the surface, stabilization of the structure, and an appropriate surface finish, along with a new base.

The Brooklyn Museum has been awarded a Cultural Grant from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs to support the reinstallation and enhancement of the Frieda Schiff Memorial Sculpture Garden.

The donation of the statue to the Brooklyn Museum by The Athena Group, Athena Liberty-Lofts L.P., and Brickman Associates honors the Fire Department of New York, the New York Police Department, the Emergency Medical Services, and the New York State Court Officers and their heroism on September 11, 2001.

Visit the Brooklyn Museum Web site at http://www.brooklynmuseum.org


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