In Brazil strong gusts of wind up to 90 km/h caused the collapse Statue of Liberty of Guaíba, in the Porto Alegre region. The collapse – which caused no injuries – caused the destruction of the upper part of the monument, while the base remained intact. Clearly, it is one copy of the originalbuilt in New York in 1876, for an overall height of 93 meters.
But did you know that, in the world, there are approx 300 replicas of this famous monument? As also reported on the official website of Statue of Liberty, in 1950 i Boy Scouts of America – to celebrate their 40th anniversary – they commissioned the production of approx 200 copper replicas, approximately 2.5 meters high, distributed in almost all states of the USA.
Among the most important copies, there are those found right in New York: the first located inside the Metropolitan Museum of Art, which houses one of the replicas sold to finance the construction of the original Statue in the 1880s. Outside the Brooklyn Museum, however, a copy measuring approximately 14 meters has been installed.
Outside the USA, however, the closest link between the original work and its replicas is in France –homeland of the author of the work Frédéric Auguste Bartholdi – where they are located 8 copies. The most famous one, about 11 meters high, was donated by the American community of Paris in 1889 to celebrate the centenary of the French Revolution and was located a few steps from the Tour Eiffel, positioned symbolically in the direction of its “big sister” in the Big Apple. Bartholdi also created a bronze replica for theUniversal Exhibition of 1900which in 2012 was transferred to the Musée d’Orsay to ensure its conservation. In Japan, however, a bronze replica is found in the port of Tokyowhich has now become a permanent tourist attraction.
And in Italy? In our country, however, there are no exact replicas of this monument, even though numerous statues are dedicated to freedom and democratic values such as justice.
It must be said, however, that most of these replicas were built for commercial purposes, as in the case of the copy of Las Vegas at the Hotel New York-New York High approx 46 meters (half of the original one), but also as a symbol of democracy and resistance, like the one erected by Chinese students in Tiananmen Square in 1989.
