Statue of Liberty, June 24, 1939
The copper Statue of Liberty was a gift from the people of France to the people of the United States and was dedicated in 1886. It was designed by Frédéric Auguste Bartholdi based on a metal framework created by Gustave Eiffel (construction on the Eiffel Tower was begun in 1887). The foundation and pedestal in the form of an 11-pointed star allow the Statue to face southeast, greeting ships entering New York from the Atlantic Ocean. One of the most recognizable statues in the world, the Statue of Liberty has been in innumerable film and television productions, being destroyed in many (notably in The Planet of the Apes, Independence Day, and Cloverfield ). The dramatic climax of Alfred Hitchcock’s 1942 movie Saboteur takes place in the torch.