A Monument Built as a Skin and Skeleton
The Statue of Liberty looks like a solid figure, but its mass is largely an illusion. The copper sheets form an outer skin; an iron framework behind them carries the structural load. That division let the builders create a huge, detailed statue without making every part of it a block of metal.
The sheets were shaped by hammering the copper over forms, a technique called repoussé. Once shaped, they could be fitted to the supporting structure. The framework does the job a skeleton does in a body: it keeps the figure standing, while the copper supplies the visible surface and sculpted contours.
Why the Surface Changed Color
Fresh copper has a reddish metallic appearance. Exposed to air and weather, it gradually develops a green coating called a patina. This change is a result of reactions at the surface, not paint applied to the statue. The patina also helps shield the copper beneath it from further weathering.
That layered construction changes how to picture the monument. Its scale comes not from a massive copper core, but from engineering that separates the work of supporting the statue from the work of giving it shape. Up close, the famous figure is less a solid metal giant than a carefully formed copper exterior wrapped around a structural frame.
