On June 17, 1885, the dismantled Statue of Liberty, a gift of
friendship from the people of France to the people of America,
arrived in New York Harbor after being shipped across the
Atlantic Ocean in 350 individual pieces packed in more than
200 cases. The copper and iron statue, which was reassembled
and dedicated the following year in a ceremony presided over
by U.S. President Grover Cleveland, became known around the
world as an enduring symbol of freedom and democracy.

The statue was originally copper-colored, but over the years it
underwent a natural color-change process called patination that produced its current greenish-blue hue.