Statute of Liberty Reopens July 4, 2009.

I'm glad they are reopening the crown of the Statue of Liberty. I know it's likely to be a terrorist target, but going up there is great fun, and I've been sad that it's not been available.

I've been up twice. Once, when I was a small child with my parents, and once in the late 1990s, after the 100th year renovation was completed. I remember pointing at the repairs with my friends.

The skin is only about as thick as a penny. When constructed, both the artist and those who raised the money for the base compared it with the ancient Colossus of Rhodes. The poem at it's base, The Colossus, makes reference to that.

But Liberty Enlightening the World, as she is officially titled, is a more impressive work.

Colossus of Rhodes
Height: 107 feet
Time in service: 56 years
Function: Art
There is no evidence that the statute was hollow.

Statue of Liberty
Height: 111 feet, 1 inch (heal to head) She is roughly the same scale, but her raised arm and larger pedestal makes her taller
Time in service: 123 years, and counting.
Function: Originally Liberty was the first fully electrical lighthouse.