Which part of the Statue of Liberty was displayed at Philadelphia’s 1876 Centennial Exposition?

The arm and torch of the Statue of Liberty were displayed at Philadelphia’s 1876 Centennial Exposition.

The exhibit showed the statue’s right arm holding the torch, which visitors could approach and climb for a fee of 50 cents. The money raised helped fund construction of the statue’s pedestal. The display offered Americans a preview of the monument before its completion in New York Harbor.

The statue was formally titled Liberty Enlightening the World and was designed by French sculptor Frédéric Auguste Bartholdi. The arm and torch had been completed earlier than the rest of the figure, making them suitable for exhibition.

The 1876 display is sometimes confused with the statue’s later arrival in New York. The complete statue was dedicated in 1886, ten years after the Centennial Exposition. The exposition itself was held in Fairmount Park, not at the statue’s eventual harbor site.