Édouard Laboulaye. Three to four million people visit the Freedom Statute every year. This monument, one of the most well-known in the world, a symbol of friendship and political cooperation between France and the United States, was created by a private initiative: it was the passion of a few individuals — albeit influential and visionary — that created it, not the official relations between governments. It is usually associated with Bartholdi’s name. Presumably, sculpt...