Most travelers know the Statue of Liberty as one of New York’s great landmarks.
Far fewer know that her story began in France.
Before Lady Liberty ever stood in New York Harbor, the idea behind the monument was taking shape among French republicans, abolitionists, artists and intellectuals. Her head was displayed in Paris. Her sculptor was French. Gustave Eiffel helped engineer her internal structure.
And the man who first imagined the project, Édouard de Laboulaye, is buried right here in Paris at Père Lachaise Cemetery.
His story adds an entirely different dimension to one of the world’s most recognizable monuments.
WHO WAS ÉDOUARD DE LABOULAYE?
Édouard de Laboulaye was a French scholar, political thinker, abolitionist and passionate supporter of republican government.
He deeply admired the United States and studied its political system extensively, writing about American history and translating Benjamin Franklin’s autobiography into French.
But Laboulaye’s interest in America was about far more than simple admiration.
He was fascinated by the idea of a society governed by laws rather than by monarchs or emperors, and he believed strongly in the principles of liberty, representative government and civic equality.
Those beliefs would eventually lead him to the idea that became the Statue of Liberty.
THE IDEALS THAT INSPIRED THE STATUE OF LIBERTY
To understand the Statue of Liberty, it helps to understand the political world in which the idea was born.
The 18th and 19th centuries were shaped by debates over liberty, democracy, republican government and the rights of citizens.
Enlightenment philosophers including Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Voltaire and John Locke challenged older assumptions about power and government. Their ideas influenced revolutionary movements in both France and the United States.
But those lofty ideals came with an enormous contradiction.
Slavery remained deeply embedded in societies that claimed to value liberty.
For abolitionists such as Laboulaye, the struggle against slavery became inseparable from the larger struggle for republican freedom.
ÉDOUARD DE LABOULAYE AND THE ABOLITION OF SLAVERY
During the American Civil War, Laboulaye strongly supported the Union and the abolition of slavery.
After the war ended in 1865, he became president of the French Emancipation Committee, an organization created to assist formerly enslaved people in the United States.
The passage of the 13th Amendment, abolishing slavery in the United States, carried enormous symbolic importance for him.
It was in this atmosphere that an idea began to form.
What if France presented the United States with a great monument to liberty?
Not simply a diplomatic gift, but a monument celebrating emancipation, republican government and the long relationship between France and America.
HOW THE IDEA FOR THE STATUE OF LIBERTY BEGAN IN FRANCE
In 1865, Laboulaye proposed the idea of a monument during a gathering of friends and supporters.
At the time, France was ruled by Napoleon III and the Second Empire, while Laboulaye remained committed to republican principles.
A monument honoring American liberty therefore carried a second message.
Celebrating republicanism in the United States could also strengthen the democratic cause at home in France.
The concept eventually found the perfect artistic partner in French sculptor Frédéric-Auguste Bartholdi.
Laboulaye had the political vision.
Bartholdi would give that vision a face.
FRÉDÉRIC AUGUSTE BARTHOLDI GIVES LIBERTY A FORM
Bartholdi developed the monumental female figure we now know as the Statue of Liberty.
Officially named Liberty Enlightening the World, the statue was conceived as an enormous symbol of freedom.
The French would finance and construct the statue itself. The United States would build the pedestal on which she would stand.
Work began in France during the 1870s.
And long before Americans saw the completed monument in New York Harbor, Parisians were already getting glimpses of Lady Liberty.
LADY LIBERTY WAS ON DISPLAY IN PARIS
One of the most remarkable chapters in the statue’s history happened right here in Paris.
Bartholdi began work on major portions of the statue, including the arm holding the torch and the enormous head.
The head of the Statue of Liberty was displayed in Paris during the 1878 Exposition Universelle, held around the Champ de Mars.
Imagine being a visitor to Paris in 1878 and suddenly encountering the gigantic face of a monument that would later become one of America’s defining symbols.
For travelers today, it is another reminder that the history of Paris often extends far beyond France itself.
GUSTAVE EIFFEL AND THE ENGINEERING OF LADY LIBERTY
Another famous Parisian name became part of the project: Gustave Eiffel.
Before his tower transformed the Paris skyline, Eiffel and his engineering team helped develop the internal structural system supporting the statue.
The copper exterior needed to withstand wind while remaining flexible enough to move slightly without cracking.
That engineering solution helped make the enormous monument possible.
So two of the men most closely associated with Parisian engineering and design—Bartholdi and Eiffel—also helped create one of New York City’s greatest landmarks.
THE HIDDEN SYMBOL AT THE FEET OF THE STATUE OF LIBERTY
Most visitors look upward.
They notice the torch.
They notice the crown.
They notice the tablet.
But one of the statue’s most meaningful details is far easier to miss.
At Liberty’s feet are broken shackles and chains.
They symbolize liberation from oppression and connect the monument directly to the abolitionist ideals that helped inspire Laboulaye.
The Statue of Liberty was therefore never simply a monument welcoming immigrants to America.
Its symbolism was rooted in a much broader vision of political freedom and emancipation.
WHY THE STATUE OF LIBERTY CONNECTS PARIS AND NEW YORK
Today, Lady Liberty belongs visually to New York.
But historically, she belongs to both France and the United States.
She represents a long and complicated relationship between two countries that repeatedly influenced one another’s ideas about revolution, democracy and citizenship.
Her story connects:
France and America.
Paris and New York.
Abolitionists and republicans.
Artists and engineers.
Political ideals and monumental architecture.
And much of that story can still be traced through Paris.
WHERE TO FIND ÉDOUARD DE LABOULAYE IN PARIS
Édouard de Laboulaye never became as famous as Bartholdi or Eiffel.
Yet without his original idea, the Statue of Liberty might never have existed.
Today he is buried in Père Lachaise Cemetery, one of the most extraordinary historic places in Paris.
Père Lachaise is famous for names such as Oscar Wilde, Jim Morrison, Édith Piaf and Frédéric Chopin.
But some of its most fascinating stories belong to people travelers have never heard of.
Laboulaye is one of them.
Standing at his grave, knowing that this relatively little-known Frenchman helped inspire a monument recognized around the world, is exactly the kind of unexpected connection that makes exploring Paris so rewarding.
DISCOVER THE HIDDEN HISTORY OF PÈRE LACHAISE
Paris becomes far more interesting when you know the stories hidden behind the monuments, cemeteries and streets.
Édouard de Laboulaye’s grave is just one of the remarkable stops connected to French and international history at Père Lachaise.
Join me and discover the revolutionaries, artists, writers, political figures and extraordinary Parisians whose stories still live inside the cemetery.
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Bonne journée,
Johnny
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