October 28, 2020 is Lady Liberty’s 134th Birthday ~ Let’s Celebrate! and add to your list in November the new art installation, Zag Landsberg: Reclining Liberty, coming to Morningside Park in Harlem.
Let’s take a look inside the 26,000 square-foot, $100 million Statue of Liberty Museum’s expansion that opened on May 16, 2019.
Under the development of the Statue of Liberty-Ellis Island Foundation (SLEIF), National Park Service and U.S. Department of the Interior, the Statue of Liberty Museum
The existing museum inside The Statue of Liberty can only accommodate a fraction of the Islands visitors. The new museum will create three significant gallery spaces ~ an Immersive Theater, an Engagement Gallery, and Inspiration Gallery.
The Immersive Theater will present a multimedia event, approximately 8-10 minutes long, relating the story of constructing Liberty-the Statue.
The Engagement Gallery will place visitors in the warehouse where Frédéric Auguste Bartholdi built the Statue. With the feeling of being in the sculptor’s studio, viewers will see the entire process of Liberty’s construction, from small plaster model to the final Statue.
The Inspiration Gallery is a place where visitors can reflect on their museum experience and will be invited to document their visit by adding their names and photos to a Liberty Mosaic. Before leaving, viewers will get an up-close look at the original torch, which Lady Liberty held high for nearly 100 years. Glass walls will give visitors will offer views of the Statue of Liberty.
The new $70 million museum dedicated to Lady Liberty will include 25,830 square feet will be located on the northwest portion of the island, and will have the capacity to accommodate up to 1,000 visitors per hour.
The new Statue of Liberty Museum is expected to be unveiled in May 2019. It is being designed by FXFOWLE, the firm commissioned for Amtrak 30th Street Station Plaza, and will feature a multi-million dollar art installation of the American flag on its exterior. Exhibitions will be created by ESI Design. Diane Von Furstenberg is leading the fund-raising campaign and hopes to secure $100 million for the museum’s development. She will also oversee the commission of the institution’s exterior art installation.
The commissioned artwork includes the American Flag installation, “with hand-forged iron bars created by Gustave Eiffel. The bars have been repurposed from the original structure after being removed during one of the more recent restoration undertakings and have been reutilized in the new design.”
The museum, which will be set above 500-year flood levels and built to withstand hurricane force winds, will feature a green roof-scape and bird-safe glass exteriors. Materials used will be native to Liberty Island and materials used to build the Statue of Liberty and Fort Wood, including Stony Creek granite, bronze, plaster, and a variety of native vegetation.
Now, about one year after construction began, the final structural beam was lifted into place. The museum, outdoor plaza and rooftop terrace.
Follow the Museum project on Facebook and Twitter. Check out the Statue of Liberty app at the IOS App Store.