The Statue of Liberty is getting a new museum later this month, when its snazzy new building opens, replacing its old museum in the base of the statue.
Replacing the old museum in the statue’s base, the new building is a glassy confection with 26,000 square feet of exhibit space for exhibits on the statue’s history, a plaza and a rooftop viewing platform. Inside, the statue’s original torch, replaced in 1984, will be lit up for visitors.
The Statue’s old museum has been unavailable to about 80% of the site’s visitors since 9/11 due to security issues which have required advance booking and tickets. The new museum will require neither. The Statue gets over four million visitors a year.
The torch installed in 1984 is made of shiny copper, and is lit by lights shining on it, much as the sculptor Frederic Batholdi envisioned. But from the beginning until 1984, a lit-from-inside version with glass windows was used, and suffered from leakage and rainwater damage.
