Campaign launched to fund new Statue of Liberty in Brittany
The Local France - [email protected]
Published: 2 Jul, 2019 CET.
Updated: Tue 2 Jul 2019 16:01 CET
A campaign has been launched to fund another Statue of Liberty in France... this time destined for Brittany.
The most famous Statue of Liberty - given to the US by France - is of course the one located in New York.
However there are anothers in Paris - and there could soon be yet another on French soil, this time in Gourin in Brittany.
The statues of liberty symbolise freedom, democracy and justice, and those behind the campaign for one in Gourin, a town of 4,000 people in central Brittany, say that the town deserves its own statue because it has come to represent the story of emigration from Brittany, France to North America, as well as of friendship between France and the USA.
"Gourin is the capital of Breton emigration in North America. Today, there are nearly 7,000 people from central Brittany settled in the United States," say campaigners.
The organisers say that the story of European immigration to the USA is often told through the Irish, German, Italian and Polish experience. However over the course of 100 years, 100,000 people from Brittany alone have also moved to the USA to start new lives.
The new statue, set to be 2.9 metres high, will be a reproduction of the model made by the sculptor Frédéric Auguste Bartholdi, with campaigners hoping to raise €60k to help finance the statue.
As for the most celebrated Statue of Liberty, the French steamer Isère made its grand entrance into the New York port with what would become the 93-metre-high monument in 1887.
The statue, which weighs 204 tonnes and is visited by almost 100 million people a year, was designed by Bartholdi, with the help of Gustave Eiffel.
Click here if you'd like to find out more about the campaign for a Statue of Liberty in Gourin, or you'd like to donate.
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The most famous Statue of Liberty - given to the US by France - is of course the one located in New York.
However there are anothers in Paris - and there could soon be yet another on French soil, this time in Gourin in Brittany.
The statues of liberty symbolise freedom, democracy and justice, and those behind the campaign for one in Gourin, a town of 4,000 people in central Brittany, say that the town deserves its own statue because it has come to represent the story of emigration from Brittany, France to North America, as well as of friendship between France and the USA.
"Gourin is the capital of Breton emigration in North America. Today, there are nearly 7,000 people from central Brittany settled in the United States," say campaigners.
The organisers say that the story of European immigration to the USA is often told through the Irish, German, Italian and Polish experience. However over the course of 100 years, 100,000 people from Brittany alone have also moved to the USA to start new lives.
The new statue, set to be 2.9 metres high, will be a reproduction of the model made by the sculptor Frédéric Auguste Bartholdi, with campaigners hoping to raise €60k to help finance the statue.
As for the most celebrated Statue of Liberty, the French steamer Isère made its grand entrance into the New York port with what would become the 93-metre-high monument in 1887.
The statue, which weighs 204 tonnes and is visited by almost 100 million people a year, was designed by Bartholdi, with the help of Gustave Eiffel.
Click here if you'd like to find out more about the campaign for a Statue of Liberty in Gourin, or you'd like to donate.
READ ALSO:
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