Herald & Lantern 27 )une '84 j 21

Liberty to get A New Torch

"Oh, oh-day light,"- Paul Kinney almost whispered. Kinney, curator of th^ Statue of Liberty's American Museum of Immigration, was guiding another of the many millions of visitors up the ste^l), double-flight spiral staircase inside the statue. Along the 168-step journey from Liberty's feet to her crown, he had seen light filtering through a small hole in her copper toga — ■5- somewhere arond the hemline. After almost 100 years, even a symbol of America can wear out — especially if she is subjected constantly to salty air, high winds, air pollution and the strain of forever holding aloft a 21-foot torch. That torch was first lighted with great celebration at Liberty's dedication in New York City's harbor on Oct. 28, 1886. President Grover Cleveland spoke eloquently of liberty enlightening the world, but the statue's sculptor. Frederic Auguste Bartholdi. complained that the torch cast the light of a "glowworm". THE STATUE'S lighting has been improved considerably over the years with every-more-powerful electrical systems, but time has worked against Liberty in other ways. Her "bones" have become weak in places and her "skin" has rusted inside and out. The Statue of Liberty's deteriorating condition has worried both private citizens and the National Park Service for some ( years. Since 1933, the Park Service has been the guardian of the National Monument, which today includes the Statue of Liberty on Liberty Island and Ellis Island, the former immigration station a half mile away. In 1982, President Reagan announced the formation of The Statue of Liberty - Ellis Island Centennial Commission and named Lee A. Iacocca its chairman. The commission's goal is to raise $230 million entirely from private sources — including America's school children, ethnic groups and large 'corporations — for the restoration and preservation of the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island by 1986 and 1992. their respective centennials. THE STATUE of Liberty is familiar to millions, but not many give much thought to how she's made or what kind of shape she's in. Her classic body is formed by a thin moldedcopper exterior skin made up of 300 pieces hung independently from an interior support skeleton. This iron framework, designed by Gustave Eiffel a few years before he created his famous tower, is basically in good condition but does require strengthening. The structural connection of the upraised torchbearing arm to the central iron pylon that is the statue's backbone is seriously weakened and must be rebuilt. Every effort will be made to repair the ailing any in place, but testing may reveal the need to remove it. The statue's torch, Donate Blood. A-,.- Weill UP 1 j?'"*" tp wbw'

however, definitely will have to be removed and replaced. The legendary beacon is corroded and leaky and. according to a joint French-American architectural and engineering team's 1983 report, is at "definite risk of structural failure". Once, visitors loved to stand on the torch balcony, but it was closed in 1916 because access was dif-

ficult. Today, ascent to the torch remains the dubious privilege of Park Service little lose." Ross Holland, the director of restoration and preservation of the Statue of Liberty-Ellis Island Foundation, says. "It's waving about 15 inches." THE TORCH and balcony will be rebuilt and their replacements constructed according to the sculptor's design. The pre-

sent internally lighted torch flame made of copper and hundreds of pieces of amber glass will be replac ed with a gilded solid copper flame like Bartholdi's original creation. New ex ternal lighting will enhance the torch's golden glow. The structural report shed light on another, rather startling fact — Liberty's head is two feet off center Apparently, there were slight miscalculations in

reassembling the great gift from France after she arrived from Paris in 214 crates. '"She looks beautiful." Holland says, "and since this isn't a structural problem, we won't do anything about it." Beauty may be only skin deep, but Lady Liberty will get a number of practical visitor improvements as well. One new feature will be closed-circuit TV

cameras that will allow those unable to make the 1 arduous climb to her crown to get a good look at the inside of the statue, "Once, I was climbing the stairs behind a visitor, a bit impatient at his slow pace When I got to the crown. I saw that the man was blind. From that moment on, I realized that people climb the Statue of Liberty for more than the view "

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