Lady Liberty's "little sister"
If the Statue of Liberty has been lonely, standing at the mouth of New York Harbor as she has for these past 134 years, she's certainly never showed it. Still closed to visitors due to COVID, Lady Liberty projects the same confidence and majesty as ever.
Only now, she's got company, reports "Sunday Morning" anchor Jane Pauley.
On Wednesday, a second, smaller Statue of Liberty arrived on our shores – a gift from France. They say it symbolizes the enduring friendship between our two countries.
French ambassador Philippe Étienne said, "It's more important than ever to underline how our democracies need to work together, with our common values, including everything which is symbolized by these statues – freedom, but also equal opportunities for all our citizens."
Hoisted from her Parisian perch last month and carefully wrapped, the statue boarded a freighter bound for America, retracing the very same Transatlantic route the original statue traveled in 1885.
As the new statue passed Liberty Island, New York City's Fire Department greeted it with a water cannon salute.
Crafted from the original plaster model used by French sculptor Frédéric-Auguste Bartholdi, this bronze replica weighs in at nearly a thousand pounds. At nine feet high it's about 1/16th the size of its much larger counterpart.
This Independence Day Weekend, the statue is on display at Ellis Island, less than a mile from her big sister.
Then, it's off to Washington, D.C., where the statue will be installed at the French Ambassador's residence, just in time for Bastille Day on July 14.
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Story produced by Robert Marston. Editor: George Pozderec.
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