sector effort to raise funds to restore the Statue of
Liberty. A partnership formed between the govern-
ment, represented by the National Park Service, and
the newly formed, private Statue of Liberty-Ellis Is-
land Foundation. The foundation also sought re-
sources to beautify the surroundings of the statue
and to rehabilitate the crumbling ruins of Ellis Is-
land.
The Statue A combination of weather, pollution,
time, and the high volume of sightseers visiting the
island had left the Statue of Liberty in serious need
of attention. In 1984, therefore, the statue was closed
for renovation, and scaffolding was erected around
it, obscuring it from view until its rededication. At
this point, the United Nations designated the Statue
of Liberty National Monument as a World Heritage
Site.
Various procedures were performed on the mon-
ument’s interior and exterior. Liquid nitrogen was
used to strip away seven layers of paint from the inte-
rior, and other techniques were employed to remove
the layers of tar that originally been applied to plug
leaks and prevent corrosion. Large holes in the cop-
per skin were smoothed out and patched with new
copper. Each of the over one thousand supporting
iron ribs of the statue had to be removed and re-
placed, because the iron had corroded to such an ex-
tent that it had lost a great deal of its original density.
Teflon film was inserted between the new bars and
the skin to provide insulation and reduce friction.
Chemicals were applied to sections of the copper
skin to ensure that the statue was strengthened. The
support structure of the right arm was updated and
reinforced to make the arm structurally sound. The
crown’s seven rays were also reinforced. Thousands916 Statue of Liberty restoration and centennial The Eighties in America
During the Statue of Liberty centennial celebration, traditional sailing vessels are welcomed into New York Harbor, under the watchful
eyes of the statue (background) and the aircraft carrier USSJohn F. Kennedy(foreground).(U.S. Department of Defense)