Which sculptor created the Statue of Liberty, a landmark linked to the America250 story?

Frédéric Auguste Bartholdi created the Statue of Liberty, a landmark linked to the America250 story.

The French sculptor conceived the colossal statue, officially titled “Liberty Enlightening the World,” as a gift from the people of France to the United States. Construction began in France during the 1870s, and the completed statue was dedicated in New York Harbor on October 28, 1886.

Bartholdi designed the statue’s exterior form, while engineer Gustave Eiffel and his team created its internal iron framework. This division of responsibility explains why Eiffel is often incorrectly identified as the statue’s sculptor.

The figure represents Libertas, the Roman goddess of freedom. She holds a torch in her raised right hand and a tablet in her left inscribed with “JULY IV MDCCLXXVI,” referring to July 4, 1776. The statue stands on Liberty Island and became a U.S. national monument in 1924.