The Statue of Liberty was one of the first sights to welcome immigrants arriving in the United States. Located on Liberty Island in New York City’s harbor in New York, the enormous statue was visible to ships carrying sea-weary immigrants to the U.S. The statue was designed by French sculptor Frédéric-Auguste Bartholdi. It was given to the U.S. by the French government.

Eiffel"s work combined expert craftmanship and graceful design, qualities that are evident in the Garabit viaduct in France. Completed in 1884, it was for a time the highest bridge in the world, winning Eiffel"s factory a worldwide reputation for excellence. Eiffel cast Frédéric-Auguste Bartholdi"s colossal statue Liberty Enlightening the World (see Statue of Liberty), which was dedicated in New York in 1886. Soon after, he began work on his greatest project, the building of the Eiffel Tower. It was completed in 1889 for the celebration of the centennial of the French Revolution (1789-1799). The imposing tower—constructed of 7,000 tons of iron in 18,000 parts held together by 2,500,000 rivets—rises to a height of 300m (984 ft), and continues to dominate the Paris skyline. In the early 1890s Eiffel gave up the daily management of his business and became absorbed in the new science of aerodynamics.

Burns completed his first film, The Brooklyn Bridge, in 1981 after struggling to put it together for four years. The documentary, which tells the story of the bridge’s construction and history, was a huge success, garnering several awards and an Academy Award nomination. Burns chronicled other aspects of American history in the documentaries The Shakers (1985), Huey Long (1985), and The Statue of Liberty (1985). In 1990 Burns’s highly acclaimed epic The Civil War was released. The 11-hour documentary, which drew huge television ratings, is now part of the curriculum in many schools across the country.

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