Statue of Liberty of War; since 1933 it has been maintained by the National Park Service. Public access to the balcony around the torch has been barred for safety since 1916. According to the National Park Service, the idea for the Statue of Liberty was first proposed by Édouard René de Laboulaye, president of the French Anti-Slavery Society and a prominent and important political thinker of his time. The project is traced to a mid-1865 conversation between de Laboulaye, a staunch abolitionist, and Frédéric Bartholdi, a sculptor. In after-dinner conversation at his home near Versailles, Laboulaye, an ardent supporter of the Union in
Bartholdi Fountain repaired deterioration to the metals inside and out, and also provided modern pumps and motors, a new water treatment and filtration system, and a zinc coating to preserve the original cast-iron of the fountain. The fountain was returned to Bartholdi Park in spring 2011. The fountain is composed of a series of basins, supported by sculptures of classical figures. The cast iron is coated with bronze, stands thirty feet high, and weighs thirty thousand pounds. It stands in the center of a large circular marble pool. Three figures of women, standing on a triangle pedestal with an ornamental design of