The Statue of Liberty (Liberty Enlightening the World) is a colossal neoclassical sculpture on Liberty Island in New York Harbor in New York City in the United States. The copper statue a gift from the people of France to the people of the United States was designed by French sculptor Frédéric Auguste Bartholdi and built by Gustave Eiffel. The statue was dedicated on October 28 1886. The Statue of Liberty is a figure of a robed woman representing Libertas a Roman goddess. She holds a torch above her head and in her left arm carries a tabula ansata inscribed in Roman numerals with "JULY IV MDCCLXXVI" (July 4 1776) the date of the U.S. Declaration of Independence. A broken chain lies at her feet. The statue became an icon of freedom and of the United States and was a welcoming sight to immigrants arriving from abroad.