The United States of America is a country of insoluble contradictions. The first of the states to proclaim democracy, freedom and independence as basic values violated them so often that the country has long been a symbol of the "golden calf" and the pursuit of wealth. And it is possible that this quality determines its main monument - the famous Statue of Liberty, which contains an encrypted message …
The famous Declaration of Independence, which granted freedom to the United States, was signed in 1776. This document for many was something like the tablets of Moses, with the help of which God bequeathed to the people of Israel the laws by which they should live. Even our Pushkin was fascinated by this document, and back in 1836 he wrote: "… America is calmly making its way, hitherto safe and flourishing, strong in the world, its geographical position strengthened by her, proud of her institutions …"
And it is not surprising that shortly before the centenary of the adoption of the Constitution, the country's ruling circles began to think about how to pay tribute to this event. The decision came from the Old World: French lawyer and supporter of the abolition of slavery, Edouard Rene Lefebvre de Laboulay, back in the late 60s of the 19th century, suggested that Americans erect a giant statue in New York, comparable in size to one of the seven wonders of the world - the Colossus of Rhodes. The Americans seized on this idea, apparently not suspecting that the generous Frenchman, as they say, had "his own interest" in this matter.
In spite of England
Official history, describing the role of France in the liberation of America and the creation of the United States, suggests that the French were the "ideological yeast" of the struggle for freedom in the territory of the New World. Their loud slogan - Freedom, Equality, Brotherhood - revolutions became incendiary sparks that kindled fire in the souls of religious settlers. It is believed that the French were so intoxicated with the ideals of freedom that they also endowed Protestants with their bounty, for whom America became a new homeland. But historians are cunning: the fire of liberation in the rebellious souls of the French revolutionaries first of all burned thanks to hatred. And hatred is not for bourgeois values, but for their geographical neighbor - hated England. It was in order to annoy the "nation of shopkeepers" (as Napoleon called the English) that the French did everythingfor the United States to secede from England and become independent.
And the gift of the French benefactor was also akin to a Trojan horse: Laboulay in words dreamed of giving America a symbol of freedom, but in fact he wanted to help his friend sculptor Frederic Auguste Bartholdi "shave off" a monumental sculpture that was intended for Egypt and was supposed to stand on the banks of the newly dug Suez channel. The statue even had a name - "Light of Asia" or "Progress". But the ruler of Egypt Ismail Pasha refused to spoil the beautiful views with a sculptural monster, and then Bartholdi began with all his might to "spud" the homeland of Independence.
For this, a special committee was created, which included the financial tycoon Lesseps (he warmed his hands well on the construction of the Suez Canal), the famous engineer Gustave Eiffel, the creator of the new symbol of Paris - the famous iron tower, and the composer Charles Gounod.
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Bartholdi traveled to the United States, gained impressions, talked with the business community, but the most important thing - the money for the construction of the statue - was never found.
But the French do not just scatter their intentions: in 1874, they created a special committee that was supposed to collect the necessary amount to create a monument and deliver it to America.
True, the tight-fisted French were reluctant to give money - to collect at least something, they had to resort to the lottery. And in America things were even worse: for American moneybags, freedom lies primarily in the number of banknotes. It was only after the newspaper tycoon Pulitzer got involved, who made a good advertisement for his newspaper on this, that it got off the ground.
Ten years late
The fact that the fundraising was going neither shaky nor badly (there were rumors that the organizers sometimes confused their own pocket with the public one) is evidenced by the fact that the project was not ready for the anniversary of Independence in 1876. And in general - the sculpture could only be made ten years later. But do not give up such a profitable business halfway through! Therefore, in 1885, the Statue of Liberty, made in France, was taken apart, loaded onto the French frigate Ysere and transported to the USA.
There it was reassembled and, with a large crowd of people, was installed on Bedpoe Island, on a granite pedestal inside Fort Wood, built for the war of 1812 (curiously, the walls of the fort were laid out in the shape of a star). During the erection of the statue, many passionate speeches were made. So, Bartholdi, having arrived at the ceremony in America, said: "The dream of my life has come true!" And the US President Cleveland on October 28, 1886, without any hesitation, declared: "We will not forget that freedom has settled here." True, a female was not invited to the opening ceremony - apparently, by American standards, women do not need her. There were only two women at the opening: Jeanne-Emilia, Bartholdi's wife, and Lesseps's eight-year-old daughter.
American Freedom could not do without Russia - the giant statue was revetted with sheets of copper, which, according to one version, was brought from Bashkiria, and according to another, it was smelted at the Nizhny Tagil Metallurgical Plant.
Libera's paradoxes
Immediately after the Statue of Liberty was opened for viewing, observant viewers found many oddities in it. Someone was surprised at the figures that the sculptor used to build his structure. For example, why are the base and crown of the statue connected by 356 steps? And the 192 steps leading to the top of the pedestal? Why so many?
The location of the 25 windows in the crown, which supposedly symbolize earthly gems and heavenly rays, illuminating the world is not entirely clear. And the seven rays on the crown of the statue amaze us at all: they symbolize the seven seas and seven continents (in the western geographical tradition, there are seven continents - Africa, Europe, Asia, North America, South America, Antarctica and Australia).
But the biggest mystery is fraught with the question: who did the sculptor Bartholdi actually put on guard of America?
The most common answer: the statue was made in the image and likeness of the ancient Roman goddess of fertility, Libera, who helped winegrowers and winemakers. But maybe the sculptor saw Proserpina in Libera, which, in turn, was identified with Persephone in the Greek pantheon? True, in ancient Roman mythology, Proserpine is the goddess of the underworld, who spends half of the year in the kingdom of the living, and the other half in the kingdom of the dead. But Proserpina does not have a torch in her hand (and why a torch in broad daylight?) And there are no rays in the crown. So what kind of woman with a torch in her right hand and a tablet in her left is standing at the door of the “freest country in the world”?
Medievists all over the world have long come to the conclusion that most likely this is Hecate - the goddess of the moon, night and the underworld. It was she who was most often depicted with a torch in her hand and rays (someone believes that these are horns) on her head.
Statues of Hecate in Ancient Greece were placed at crossroads to guard against evil. At the same time, it was Hecate who was considered the culprit of insanity and the appearance of ghosts. And later, Hecate became the patroness of witchcraft and the progenitor of all sorceresses. She was responsible for the madness comprehending people, insanity and obsession with any idea.
Hardly anyone would argue with the fact that it is the United States that is obsessed with the idea of domination over the world with the help of power and money.
So the question of who towers over the North American continent - Liberty or its sinister antipode - is still open.
FIGURES AND FACTS
- Height from ground to torch tip is 92.99 meters.
- The height of the statue from the top of the pedestal to the torch is 46 meters.
- The height of the statue is 33.86 meters.
- Hand length 5.00 meters.
- Index finger length 2.44 meters.
- The thickness of the copper coating on the statue is 3/32 inch or 2.37 millimeters.
- The total weight of the monument is 254 tons.
