The Statue of Liberty, or Lady Liberty, is not only the icon of New York and the United States: it is also a masterpiece of ingenuity… à la française! Born in Paris at the end of the 19th century, in the workshops of Gaget and of Auguste Bartholdi, its construction mobilised skills, trades and men capable of pushing the technical limits of their time.
On the occasion of the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence of the United States, the MuAM invites you to step behind the scenes of this exceptional project, through a new and immersive visit route. Among video projections, 3D devices and real sets, enter the backstage of a work shaped by sweat, driven by audacity and carried by genius.
Immersed in the workshops
From the first enlargement techniques to the great departure for New York, the exhibition lets you experience, step by step, the construction of Lady Liberty! The crash of hammering, the smell of wet plaster, the appearance of Auguste Bartholdi… the sensory walk takes you into the bustle of the Gaget workshops.
Under its glass roofs, immersive devices reveal the shaping of the plaster models as well as the making of the first full-scale wooden templates. Further on, you are plunged into the heart of the forges, where each copper plate is assembled onto metal frames. The visit route ends in the innards of the statue, which reveal the ingenious framework designed by Gustave Eiffel… before it is crated for its voyage across the Atlantic.
Materials and men
Blacksmiths, joiners, sculptors, boilermakers… nearly ten trades, most of which still exist today, are then at work to bring to life this giant of copper and iron! In the tumult of the workshops, every gesture counts, every skill fits together in the service of a true collective epic made of challenges, craft feats and technical experiments.
Pieces of Lady Liberty
The exhibition presents iconic pieces from the MuAM collections, brought out of its storerooms for the occasion! Models of the head in copper and plaster, a cast of an ear, a full-size copper index finger… so many precious witnesses that show, up close, the material, the gestures and the ingenuity at work in this extraordinary human and technical adventure.