[Ra2oF]

Topic: the US Statue of Liberty

Sculptor and engineer, Frederic-Auguste Bartholdi's original concept was to erect a statue at the entrance to the Suez Canal, in time for the official opening in 1869.

Bartholdi, a close friend of Ferdinand de Lesseps, had proposed a statue/lighthouse for the Suez canal in about 1865. The original plan was for a structure to resemble a robed Egyptian peasant woman, with the light beaming out from both a headband and a torch thrust upward into the skies.

At first enthusiastic, the Egyptian ruler later went cold on the idea, probably because the finances in the country at that time were not abundant.

10 years later, an elite French group wanted to offer a gift to the United States in honor of their struggles and success at liberty and freedom. Bartholdi, never one to miss an opportunity, obviously dusted off his old plans which then became the US Statue of Liberty