'Little Sister': France sends 'second' Statue of Liberty to US; watch its journey

France is sending a second Statue of Liberty to the United States, decades after it sent the original sculpture to commemorate the Franco-American alliance during the American Revolution. The statue is being loaned by a Paris museum and will arrive on Elis Island between July 1 and July 5. It will be displayed there before being shifted to the resident of the French Ambassador in Washington DC, where it will stay for a decade.

The ‘Little Sister’ is a scaled-down replica of the original bronze statue making the only 16th of the size of the Lady Liberty. According to Architectural Digest, the replica weighs 992 pounds and is just less than 10 feet tall. Another intriguing fact about the bronze version is that it is based on a plaster model designed in 1878 by French sculptor Frédéric Auguste Bartholdi, the same person who - with help from engineer Gustave Eiffel - created the larger version now in New York.

Following its fabrication in 2009, the Petite Soeur (little sister) was first plastered at a discreet location in the French Capital. In 2011, it was installed in the garden of the National Museum of Arts and Crafts, where it had sat ever since. Two weeks ago, the sculpture was tenderly lifted from its place and packaged in foam blocks before being sent on a journey across the Atlantic Ocean.

With Little Sister, the Emmanuel Macron administration aims to deepen the bond with America. The first Statue of Liberty, which depicts the Roman goddess Libertas, was sent with the same intention years ago. The original statue resides on Liberty Island at the New York harbour, the replica would be placed on Elis island, which is located in the vicinity of Liberty island.

From Paris to New York | Watch

The US-France relationship has grown stronger over the years. Recently, Presidents of both occidental countries met at the G7  (Group of Seven) summit in Cornwall, UK. Their bond grabbed the limelight after Joe Biden and Emmanuel Macron were seen throwing their arms around each other as they walked on the beach. Later the two men shared a tête-à-tête as aides looked on. At one point Biden even asked Macron to answer a reporter’s question for him, according to Wall Street Journal. 

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