Frédéric Auguste Bartholdi

Hello! My name is Frédéric Auguste Bartholdi. I was born a long time ago in a town called Colmar, in France, on August 2nd, 1834. Ever since I was a little boy, my hands were busy. I loved to draw pictures and build things out of clay and wood. While other children played games, I dreamed of creating something huge and wonderful. My biggest dream was to become a sculptor, an artist who could make giant, amazing statues that would make people stop and stare. I wanted to build something so big and beautiful that everyone in the world could see it and feel inspired.

I had a very good friend named Édouard de Laboulaye. Around the year 1865, he shared a wonderful idea with me. He wanted our country, France, to give a special gift to the United States of America. This gift would be a giant statue to celebrate the friendship between our two countries and to honor our shared love for freedom. I was so happy when he chose me to be the sculptor for this important project! It was the big dream I had always waited for. To get started, I sailed across the big ocean to America in 1871. I needed to find the perfect place for our statue to stand, a home where she could welcome everyone.

Building the statue was a very exciting job. We decided to call her 'Liberty Enlightening the World.' She was so enormous that we could not make her in one single piece. Instead, my amazing team and I built her in our workshop in Paris, section by section. It was like putting together the biggest puzzle you can imagine. I asked another friend of mine, Gustave Eiffel, to help. He was a brilliant engineer, and he designed a strong iron skeleton to go inside the statue to hold her up and keep her steady. We finally finished building her in France in the year 1884. Then, we had to take her all apart again! We carefully packed her into more than 200 big boxes and shipped her all the way to New York. Finally, on a very grand day, October 28th, 1886, we put her back together and dedicated her to America.

It made me so proud to see my creation standing tall in New York Harbor, welcoming people to America with her torch held high. Over my life, I created many other sculptures, but Lady Liberty was always the most special to me. I lived to be 70 years old, and my work is still enjoyed today by people from all over the world. I hope that when people see the Statue of Liberty, they remember the importance of friendship between countries and the wonderful idea of freedom for everyone.