By The Musée des Arts et Métiers (MuAM) in Paris is opening an 11-month exhibition on the Design and Creation of the Statue of Liberty.
Lady Liberté: Sweat, Boldness, Genius traces the technical odyssey behind the universal monument. Marking the 250th anniversary of the United States Declaration of Independence, the exhibition highlights the industrial, human, and scientific history of the monument that stands at the entrance to New York and as a testament to French craftsmanship.
While the Statue of Liberty is now the global symbol of New York and the United States, its history began in Paris, at the Gaget, Gauthier & Compagnie workshops, which were commissioned by the sculptor Bartholdi. Its creation brought together artisans, engineers, and workers capable of pushing the technical boundaries of their time.
The exhibition will take the form of an immersive experience in the Gaget workshops where the statue was built. Visitors, equipped with headphones, will journey through video projections, 3D installations, life-size sets, and sensory experiences to relive the various stages of this extraordinary project. From the initial techniques used to scale up the models to the statue’s departure for New York, the exhibition immerses the public in the bustling atmosphere of the workshops where the immense copper sheets that make up this colossal statue, which celebrates its 140th anniversary this year, were shaped.
The exhibition concludes at the very heart of the statue’s structure, offering an immersive look at the ingenious framework designed by Gustave Eiffel, before tracing the final stages of its journey to the United States.
Lady Liberté: Sweat, Boldness, Genius will open on 22 September 2026 and run to 1st August 2027, at the fabulous (visit if you can) Musée des Arts et Métiers in Paris.
