> What does the Statue of Liberty hold in her right hand?And the answer: a torch. Dedicated in 1886 as a gift from the people of France, the Statue of Libertyholds a torch in her right hand, and a tablet in her left hand. The tabletdisplays the date of the Declaration of Independence in Roman numerals: July 4,1776.Photo credit: public domain.In 1865, a Frenchman named Édouard de Laboulaye hadan idea: gift a monument of freedom to the United States. The suggestion came inthe wake of the recent Union victory in the American Civil War, a win whichreaffirmed notions of freedom and democracy and served as a platform for deLaboulaye to argue that honoring the United States would strengthen the causefor democracy in France. Alongside his friend and architect Frédéric-Auguste Bartholdi, Laboulaye set hisdream to work. Bartholdi had previously proposed the idea of a commemorativestatue for Egypt titled Egypt Bringing Light to Asia, but the expenses had runtoo high and the project was canceled. Drawing from these designs (and itsproposed name), Bartholdi tweaked his plan to feature the Roman goddess ofliberty: Libertas. Meanwhile, it's said that Bartholdi based the face of hisstatue off of his mother and used his wife as a model during the creationprocess. Bartholdi and Laboulaye both agreed that the project should be a collaboratedeffort between the United States and France. As such, the U.S. would build thepedestal while France would build the statue. To represent a symbol of peace andcommemorate the 100th anniversary of independence, the schedule was inscribedwith the date of American independence: July 4, 1776 (using Roman numerals[https://www.askqotd.com/roman-numerals/]). The project was so massive – and thus, so expensive – that just the completedtorch went on display in Philadelphia to help raise funds for its completion.Meanwhile, in France, Gustave Eiffel (of, you guessed it, the Eiffel Tower)joined the project to build Lady Liberty's internal structure. In the end, thestatue measured in at 305 feet tall and weighed over 450,000 pounds.Did you know?When the Statue was unveiled in 1886, it was a shiny brown color, like a penny.By 1906, the color had changed to the iconic green we know today. The reason forthe color-change is due to its copper composition: the outer surface is coveredwith hundreds of thin copper sheets, which react with the air to form averdigris. This bright bluish-green encrustation protects the copper underneathfor years to come.