Statue of Liberty, Colossal statue on Liberty Island in the Upper New York Bay, U.S. Formally titled Liberty Enlightening the World, the statue was sculpted by FrĆ©dĆ©ric-Auguste Bartholdi and dedicated in 1886. This 305-foot (93-meter) statue of a woman holding a tablet and upraised torch was given to the U.S. by France and commemorates the friendship of the two countries. A plaque at the pedestalās entrance is inscribed with the sonnet āThe New Colossusā (1883) by Emma Lazarus. It is part of the Statue of Liberty National Monument, created in 1924, which covers about 58 acres (about 24 hectares) and also includes nearby Ellis Island. The Statue of Liberty was designated a UNESCO World Heritage site in 1984. Exhibits about the statueās history were in its base until 2018, when they were moved to the nearby Statue of Liberty Museum.