How Was the Statue of Liberty Transported?

The Statue of Liberty was transported from France to the United States aboard the French frigate Isère. The colossal statue, standing at 151 feet (46 meters) and weighing 225 tons (204 metric tons), was first constructed in France between 1875 and 1884 under the supervision of sculptor Frédéric-Auguste Bartholdi, who began drafting designs for the figure in 1870. Once the statue was completed, it was disassembled into 350 individual pieces. These pieces were carefully packed into 214 wooden crates to ensure their safe journey across the Atlantic Ocean.

The crates were loaded onto Isère in the seaport of Lorient, France, and the frigate then traveled for close to a month before reaching New York Harbor in June 1885. It was unloaded, and the crates were transported to Bedloe’s Island, now known as Liberty Island. Here, the statue was reassembled over the course of several months. The assembly process was a monumental task, involving the careful reconstruction of the statue’s copper sheets over its iron and steel framework. The reassembly culminated in the statue’s dedication on October 28, 1886, by Pres. Grover Cleveland.