Which UNESCO World Heritage Site in New York Harbor was a gift from France to the United States?

The Statue of Liberty is the UNESCO World Heritage Site in New York Harbor that France gave to the United States.

The monument was designed by French sculptor Frédéric Auguste Bartholdi, with engineering assistance from Gustave Eiffel. It was dedicated on October 28, 1886, marking the centennial of the American Declaration of Independence, although construction and fundraising took longer than planned.

The copper statue represents Libertas, the Roman goddess of freedom. She holds a torch in her raised right hand and a tablet in her left bearing the date July 4, 1776, in Roman numerals. The famous poem “The New Colossus” was written by Emma Lazarus for a fundraising campaign for the pedestal.

UNESCO inscribed the Statue of Liberty in 1984. A common mix-up is treating Ellis Island as the same landmark: Ellis Island is nearby and historically connected to immigration, but it is a separate site.