Statue of Liberty: A statue for all seasons

Statues are in the spotlight! Proud personages, in the history of the United States, regarded as racist, are — quite literally — being knocked off their pedestals. Christopher Columbus is among them.

I recall an illustration, in a school textbook, of that Italian explorer at the court of King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella of Spain. Those mighty monarchs sponsored Columbus’s voyage across the Atlantic that culminated in his ‘discovery of America’. I neither doubted that his arrival was significant nor asked how a land that had never been lost could be found. Such issues are now being addressed by — among other methods — the toppling of statues.

The country’s most iconic image is immune to ignominy. As its name proclaims, the Statue of Liberty embodies enfranchisement. The famous figure is depicted treading on broken shackles, symbolising freedom from bondage. Sculptor Bartholdi’s magnificent masterpiece was presented to the Americans by the people of France, in 1866. Slavery had been abolished in the USA, just a year before.

I have been fascinated by the Statue of Liberty ever since I watched a film, in the early 1960s, featuring that majestic monument. I could barely follow Alfred Hitchcock’s ‘Saboteur’, but remember the climax. Two men are fighting on the lofty viewing platform of the torch. One of them falls over the railings and plunges to his death.

I learnt all I could about the Statue of Liberty and later acquired a postage stamp that portrayed it. I had a pen-friend in the US called Carol, and since both of us were budding philatelists, we occasionally exchanged stamps. I was more excited to receive the small purple one with the statue than others that looked more impressive.

Carol lived in a place known, somewhat strangely, as Great Neck. When she told me that it was not far from the island home of the Statue of Liberty, I enquired whether she visited it every day. She must have thought me incredibly naive but mailed me a beautiful picture-postcard. “Why don’t you come here and see it for yourself?” she wrote.

That was over fifty-six years ago, but I am in no hurry. I know that if I ever make it to the US, although several sculptures may have tumbled with time, the Lady of Liberty awaits me. She stands in stately splendour, a statue for all seasons!