Aimee Walker
The Statue of Liberty is one of the most recognizable landmarks in the world yet thousands are unaware that it wasn’t always green.
Lady Liberty was a gift to the U.S. from the people of France and in 1886, it was dedicated in front of a crowd of spectators.
To this day, it is one of the world’s most popular landmarks and it’s estimated that 4.44 million visit it yearly.
Yet many people have absolutely no idea what Lady Liberty’s original color was.
People are just learning the Statue of Liberty’s true color, as some are taking to X (formerly Twitter) and suggesting the landmark should be cleaned.
One X user writes: “I have personally also wanted this to happen for a while, but just assumed that there was no impetus or way to convince those who manage it to do so.”
Another adds: “I’ve been thinking about this since I was a kid. Everyone always tells me the green looks better on her. I disagree wholeheartedly with those sentiments.”
“Fantastic idea,” a third simply puts.
Meanwhile, others are taking to the comments and saying they would much prefer if the Lady Liberty remained green.
“I like the statue better how it is now. Some things can get better with time,” pens one person.
In agreement, a second says: “Bad take. The green looks nice.”
A third weighs in: “But green = money.”
“Having it be anything else would be weird at this point,” another argues.
The Statue of Liberty’s original color was a magnificent shade of copper.
The American Chemical Society’s YouTube channel Reactions explains: “In her first few decades in the Big Apple, the statue slowly turned from that shiny copper color to a dull brown and then finally to the blue-green, or as they’d say back in France, ‘verdigris,’ we see today.”
Snopes says through a series of oxidation reactions, a thin, green-blue layer known as a ‘patina’ formed over the copper as it was exposed to the air.
“Not only did this process impart a markedly different color than the original to the Statue of Liberty over the years, but it has also served as a natural protective layer against further corrosion,” the fact-checking website elaborates.
At one point, officials suggested restoring her to her natural color, however, the public protested against this decision.
An article in The New York Times from 1907 suggests officials began to embrace the statue’s now-green color and rejected calls to change it.
Images that claim to show Lady Liberty in its true color are typically artificially colorized.
Did you know the Statue of Liberty was originally gold colored and over 20 years turned green due to oxidation? She was originally going to be gold plated, but that cost too much so they used shiny copper instead. Should I make a video on its TRUE esoteric origins and meaning? 🤔 pic.twitter.com/69q7fdAGNY
— Robert Sepehr (@robertsepehr) August 25, 2023
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