Which French sculptor designed the Statue of Liberty, a symbol linked with American independence?

Frédéric Auguste Bartholdi designed the Statue of Liberty, a symbol closely associated with American independence.

Bartholdi was a French sculptor who conceived the monument known officially as Liberty Enlightening the World. The people of France gave the statue to the United States, while Americans funded and built its pedestal. This division of responsibility made the monument a joint Franco-American project.

Gustave Eiffel, famous for the Eiffel Tower, designed the statue’s internal structural framework, but he was not its sculptor or principal artistic designer. That distinction is one of the most common Statue of Liberty mix-ups. Bartholdi shaped the exterior figure and its symbolic details, including the torch, tablet, crown, and drapery.

The completed statue was dedicated in New York Harbor on October 28, 1886. Its tablet bears the date July 4, 1776, connecting the monument directly to the independence milestone whose 250th anniversary is celebrated in 2026.