Prospect Heights

Want to see the Statue of Liberty during the shutdown?

The Brooklyn Museum has a famous replica

October 3, 2013 By Mary Frost Brooklyn Daily Eagle
StatueLiberty_BKMuseum.jpg
Share this:

The Brooklyn Museum is inviting disappointed tourists to come visit their replica of the Statue of Liberty during the shutdown of the federal government, while the real monument is closed.

The Brooklyn Museum’s 47-foot-high Statue of Liberty with pedestal, about one-fifth the height of the Bartholdi original, is itself historical. The piece was originally installed in 1902 on auctioneer William H. Flattau’s Liberty Storage Warehouse at 43 West 64 Street, at that time one of the highest points on the Upper West Side.

According to Forgotten-ny.com, the work was shipped into New York City on a flatbed car after being sliced in half lengthwise, and then soldered together again. When first erected, the statue had a spiral staircase that allowed visitors to climb up to the top to get a panoramic view, “just like in the real McCoy in the harbor.”

The statue was removed in 2002 when the building was converted to cooperative apartments. The mini-monument was installed in the Museum’s collection of outdoor sculpture and architectural fragments 2005 after undergoing conservation and restoration. (It was a gift from The Athena Group and Brickman Associates in honor of FDNY, NYPD, Emergency Medical Services, and the New York State Court Officers and their heroism on September 11, 2001.)

And while you’re there, you can visit the museum’s exhibitions and famous galleries, which range from  “Divine Felines: Cats of Ancient Egypt” to bronze sculptures by Auguste Rodin, 23 fully-recreated American period rooms, to Valerie Hegarty’s “Alternative Histories.”

The Brooklyn Museum is open on its normal schedule during the government shutdown. Visit www.brooklynmuseum.org

Subscribe to our newsletters


Leave a Comment


Leave a Comment