Like a lot of American monuments in this post-National Treasure world, the Statue of Liberty gets a lot of attention as a possible Freemason “code” full of crazy symbols and hidden meanings. The truth is not that exciting. But it’s still exciting! Statue of Liberty symbols are a real thing, but they’re mostly of the art class variety. The Statue of Liberty torch, for example, is meant to symbolize “Liberty Enlightening the World” (the statue’s actual name, by the way). The Statue of Liberty tablet has a little “goof” in it for typography geeks.
So there might not be any Statue of Liberty codes to speak of, but the history of its construction and the thoughtfulness of its design are pretty fascinating to think about. For example, did you know that Freemasons built the thing? Read on for a Statue of Liberty history lesson and a comprehensive list of all of the symbols “hidden” on Lady Liberty.
As the statue’s official name “Liberty Enlightening the World” implies, the torch is a symbol of liberty and enlightenment. Observing that torches could also be used for destruction, one of the original “idea guys” behind the statue, Édouard René de Laboulaye, clarified that Lady Liberty’s torch is “not the torch that sets afire, but the flambeau, the candle-flame that enlightens.”
The National Park Service describes it as lighting “the way to freedom, showing us the path to Liberty.”
Some depictions of Libertas, the Roman goddess of liberty that partially inspired the Statue of Liberty, show her sporting what’s called a Phrygian cap, which symbolizes freedom (it also makes you look a lot like a Smurf).
The Statue of Liberty wears a stola and pella (gown and cloak), which are common in depictions of Roman goddesses such as Libertas, the goddess of—you guessed it!—liberty. Lady Liberty is actually fairly conservative in her apparel, considering the nude or topless depictions of Libertas in other artwork that predate her. Why the cover-up? Édouard René de Laboulaye, who originally proposed the statue, was a devout Catholic, and insisted that sculptor Frédéric Auguste Bartholdi cover her “with a robe from head to toe.”
The broken shackles and axe head at the feet of Lady Liberty represent “the throwing off of tyranny and oppression.” Some say the chains are a substitute for the broken jug that often appears alongside depictions of Libertas, the Roman goddess of liberty, a partial inspiration for the Statue of Liberty. The broken jug was meant as a “symbol of confinement now ended.”
The National Park Service writes that statue as a whole symbolizes “American independence and the end of all types of servitude and oppression.”
