Lady Liberty opted to go green long before most New Yorkers. In 1885, French sculptor Frédéric Auguste Bartholdi dismantled his gleaming copper-skinned creation — a gift to the U.S. from the French people — into 350 pieces for its voyage across the Atlantic. The statue was eventually rebuilt atop Bedloe's Island (now called Liberty Island) in New York Harbor, but during the next two decades or so, the landmark underwent a prominent color change.
The now-familiar minty tint is actually a patina, a common coating that forms on copper as well as its alloys brass and bronze. The patina is a result of the chemical reactions the statue has endured in its environment, an urban center surrounded by water. Over the years, the copper has reacted to oxygen, sulfuric acid, chloride, and other components of the surrounding air and water, changing its mineral composition in a gradual evolution. Today, chemists believe the seafoam-green hue has stabilized. And while there's occasionally been talk of repainting the statue or polishing off her patina, public sentiment — and input from copper manufacturers — has kept "Liberty Enlightening the World" from being returned to her initial metallic sheen. Fortunately, the patina is protective, which means Liberty's chameleonlike qualities actually help preserve her.
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