Statue of Liberty the decade. The Liberty statue project was not the only such undertaking that had difficulty raising money: construction of the obelisk later known as the Washington Monument sometimes stalled for years; it would ultimately take over three-and-a-half decades to complete. There was criticism both of Bartholdi's statue and of the fact that the gift required Americans to foot the bill for the pedestal. In the years following the Civil War, most Americans preferred realistic artworks depicting heroes and events from the nation's history, rather than allegorical works like the Liberty statue. There was also a feeling that Americans should design
Conservation-restoration of the Statue of Liberty Before being replaced, the bar was photographed; the image is in the June 1986 issue of "Smithsonian" magazine. The torch was removed from the statue on July 4, 1984. An article in "The New York Times" from October 8, 1984, stated that the new torch is to be completed in the same manner that the old torch was made in 14 months by ten craftsmen from Les metalliers Champenois based in Reims, and that a workshop at the statue's base on Liberty Island had been made accessible to the public that month. Within the copper body of the statue is