Frédéric Auguste Bartholdi 1871, not finishing the massive sandstone statue until 1880. In 1871, he made his first trip to the United States, where he pitched the idea of a massive statue gifted from the French to the Americans in honor of the centennial of American independence. The idea, which had first been broached to him in 1865 by his friend Édouard René de Laboulaye, resulted in the Statue of Liberty in New York harbor. After years of work and fundraising, the statue was inaugurated in 1886. During this period, Bartholdi also sculpted a number of monuments for American cities, such as a
Replicas of the Statue of Liberty non-metallic replicas; one is 6 m tall, located in the "New York" Casino in San Luis and the other crowns a commercial gallery, "Galería de Fabricantes", in Munro, a city in the northeast suburbs of Buenos Aires. In Bangu, Rio de Janeiro exists a nickel replica made by Bartholdi in 1899. Bartholdi was commissioned by José Paranhos, Baron of Rio Branco to make a replica in order to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the Republic of Brazil. Until 1940, the statue was Paranhos family property. In 1940 the statue was passed to Guanabara State. In January 20, 1964 Carlos Lacerda,