What Is the Statue of Liberty Made Of?

The Statue of Liberty is constructed of 31 tons of 0.1-inch- (2.4-mm-) thick copper sheets that were hammered into shape by hand and assembled over a framework of iron and steel supports. When combined with its concrete and granite base, the massive statue stands 305 feet (93 meters) tall and is one of the greatest technical achievements of the 19th century. Working in France, sculptor Frédéric-Auguste Bartholdi designed the statue, and the engineering of its internal structure was started by Eugène-Emmanuel Viollet-le-Duc and completed by Alexandre-Gustave Eiffel, who would later design the Eiffel Tower. American architect Richard Morris Hunt designed the statue’s pedestal.

Bartholdi oversaw the construction of the statue in his Paris workshop, where his craftsmen used an ancient metalworking technique known as repoussé to hammer the lightweight copper sheets onto the statue’s hollow wooden form. Other materials traditionally used in statue construction, such as bronze, stone, and marble, were too heavy and costly to ship from Paris to New York. Eiffel’s design ensured that the mammoth statue could withstand strong winds with its steel framework acting like a skeleton, providing the necessary support for the copper skin to maintain its shape and stability. The Statue of Liberty’s brown-colored copper eventually gave way to its now iconic green patina, a result of natural weathering over the years. This thin layer of oxidation protects and preserves the copper from erosion.