7 Odd Facts About Lady Liberty

By Harry Kimball,  Newser Staff
Posted May 10, 2009 4:36 AM CDT
7 Odd Facts About Lady Liberty
Interior Secretary Ken Salazar and Lady Liberty.   (AP Photo)

The crown of the Statue of Liberty will be open for business again July 4, the first time since 9/11. NPR collected a few facts about Lady Liberty you might not know:

  • The 7 spikes: Liberty's crown does not symbolize the 7 continents or seas, as even the National Parks Service reports. They're sun rays, and the circle is a "nimbus."
  • She's so heavy: The statute is made of 31 tons of copper, 125 tons of steel, and the base consists of a whopping 27,000 tons of concrete.

  • No fire, please: The torch has been off limits since World War I, when German saboteurs set off an explosion nearby that sent shrapnel into it and the statue's skirt.
  • She dances: In high winds, the Lady sways 3 inches; the torch can move up to 5 inches.
  • Suicide: Three people have taken their own lives in plunges from the statue, the first in—you got it—1929.
  • Movie star: Aside from acting as Columbia's mascot, the statue has figured prominently in films from Charlie Chaplin and Alfred Hitchcock.
  • Vandal magnet: The crown has attracted all manner of used chewing gum and lipstick graffiti.

(More Statue of Liberty stories.)

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