Who owns Statue of Liberty? France-US dispute Ottoman-financed monument

A diplomatic dispute has emerged between France and the United States over the Statue of Liberty, a globally recognized symbol of freedom and democracy.

How did it come to this?

The controversy gained momentum after European Parliament member Raphael Glucksmann, a European Parliament member from the Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats, spoke at a party convention on Sunday, where he criticized the U.S. for “choosing to side with the tyrants … who fired researchers for demanding scientific freedom.”

Give us back the Statue of Liberty. We gave it to you as a gift, but apparently you despise it. So it will be just fine here at home.

Raphael Glucksmann told the cheering crowd with a smile

The response from Washington was immediate. White House spokesperson Karoline Leavitt dismissed the demand.

France owes its freedom from German occupation entirely to the United States.

Karoline Leavitt said

Ottoman Empire financed Statue of Liberty design for the Suez Canal

While the debate between France and the U.S. has drawn widespread attention, a lesser-known historical fact complicates the discussion: The Statue of Liberty was originally designed for a different location and was financed by the Ottoman Empire.

In the 1850s, the governor of Egypt, then under Ottoman rule, proposed the construction of the Suez Canal to improve maritime trade between Europe and Asia. Sultan Abdulaziz approved the project after a 12-year delay, commissioning French engineers, including Ferdinand de Lesseps, to oversee its construction.

Part of the project included plans for a massive statue at the canal’s Mediterranean entrance. French sculptor Frederic Auguste Bartholdi was commissioned to design a female figure holding a torch to symbolize “Asia’s light coming from Egypt.”

However, as the project neared completion, concerns arose within the Ottoman administration that such a statue might provoke controversy among the predominantly Muslim population. As a result, the canal was inaugurated without the statue.

How Ottoman statue meant for Egypt ended up in New York Harbor

Years later, France sought to strengthen its diplomatic ties with the United States and decided to offer a grand gift in honor of American independence.

Bartholdi, recalling his unused Suez Canal statue, repurposed the design. He altered the statue’s face and adjusted the symbols it held: instead of simply representing light, it now carried a book of law in one hand and a torch representing liberty in the other.

In 1886, the redesigned statue was officially unveiled in New York Harbor, where it has stood ever since, becoming one of the most famous landmarks in the world. The original Suez Canal project, and the Ottoman funding behind it, faded into obscurity.

The recent dispute over the Statue of Liberty comes amid broader tensions between France and the United States. The two allies have found themselves at odds over various international issues, including policy responses to the ongoing war in Ukraine and trade disagreements within the European Union.