Why Tourists Have Been Banned From Seeing Lady Liberty's Original Torch Up Close For Over A Century

The Statue of Liberty might be the most iconic symbol of New York. When you visit its little island in the New York Harbor, you can learn a lot about American history and admire the view of the New York City skyline. When you look at the enormous statue holding her torch aloft as a symbol of enlightenment, you might wonder if you can take in the views from inside of it. Unfortunately, you can't go up into the torch — but over a century ago, you could. Bizarrely, the torch is permanently closed because of the Black Tom explosion of 1916. While this historical event is not particularly widely known today, at the time, it was one of the largest sabotages in American history.

Many are surprised to learn that the torch has been closed for more than 100 years, because they seem to remember climbing up spiral stairs to the torch themselves when they were younger. However, the torch has never had stairs — just a single ladder that takes climbers up into the small space within the torch. The stairs inside the structure only take you as far as the crown, which requires a 10-story climb on one narrow spiral staircase.

The Black Tom explosion closed the torch for good

On July 30, 1916, a catastrophic explosion occurred in New York City — the worst in the city's history at the time. It wasn't an accident. Explosives were loaded into trains and detonated at the Black Tom railroad yard in what is now Liberty State Park in New Jersey, just across the water from Liberty Island where the statue stands. The force of the blast was so powerful that windows across Manhattan and Jersey City were broken. Tragically, seven people were killed. Although the United States had not yet joined World War I, this was the deliberate act of German operatives, infuriated that the United States was supporting Britain and France in their war against Germany. Much of that industry and production took place in New York and went through Black Tom.

The explosion also damaged the Statue of Liberty, blasting shrapnel at the arm and torch. At that time, the torch was closed to the public. Although restoration has since taken place, the National Park Service has never reopened the torch for tourists to explore. National Park Service employees do periodically climb up to the torch for maintenance, however.

How high can you climb the Statue of Liberty today?

You can see Lady Liberty up close from Liberty Island or from the water (for free on the Staten Island Ferry!), but if you want to see the view from as high up as possible on the statue, you'll have to visit the crown (or, if you have a little more money to spend, take a helicopter tour over New York City) instead. If you book special tickets in advance, you can climb all the way up to the Statue of Liberty's crown, where you can get a good look out at the harbor far below you. You should know, however, that there are no elevators or escalators in the statue. If you want to get there, you're going to have to climb an exhausting 162 steps to the top.

If you really want to see the torch itself up close, you can still visit the original one at the Statue of Liberty Museum. There, you can get a sense of the size of the torch and imagine what it was like for visitors over 100 years ago to look out over the harbor through its windows. And, best of all, you won't even have to climb to do so.

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New Museum Opens At Statue Of Liberty

By DEEPTI HAJELA

NEW YORK (AP) — A new museum opening at the Statue of Liberty is giving visitors another opportunity to explore its history and the impact the iconic structure has had on the world.

The 26,000-square-foot (2,415-square-meter) museum on Liberty Island is the new home for the statue’s original torch and other artifacts which had previously been in a smaller museum space inside the statue’s pedestal, which is accessible only to the fraction of the more than 4 million annual visitors who manage to get limited-availability statue entry tickets.

“We looked at this small museum and thought, wouldn’t it be wonderful to ... move it out to a place where more people could experience it,” said John Piltzecker, National Park Service superintendent of the Statue of Liberty National Monument and Ellis Island.

The new space, located somewhat away from the entrance to the statue, is open to anyone who comes to Liberty Island, with admission included in the price of the ferry ticket. From the outside, the glass walls and copper-colored roof appear to be rising out of the earth, with a giant staircase rising to a rooftop terrace at the center.

The entire structure is meant to connect to Lady Liberty, using the same granite that’s part of the statue pedestal and including copper as a nod to the material the statue is made of, said Cameron Ringness, the project designer at FXCollaborative, which created the museum’s overall design.

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“It’s really trying to belong to the site and the landscape and not feel like this building that just got placed here out of nowhere,” Ringness said. “We wanted to enhance the feeling that it’s really special to be in proximity to the statue.”

Inside, there are three main gallery spaces, starting with a theater where visitors walk through as they watch a film that goes into how the idea for the statue came about, the efforts that went into its making in France and its arrival in the New York harbor, as well as talking about what liberty meant then and what it means in the current day.

The film uses unusual footage taken by drones, including an interior shot rising up through the inside of the statue.

Another gallery goes into the building of the statue, with exhibits meant to show what it would have been like in Frederic-Auguste Bartholdi’s studio, and the models and molds used to make it, as well as a replica of the statue’s foot. Another section shows how iconic the statue has become, not only in American culture but around the world, with items like a menorah where each candle holder is a small Lady Liberty, as well as comic book covers, decorative plates, and dolls.

In the final section, visitors are encouraged to take digital self-portraits and add their thoughts on what liberty means to them, as they look at the original torch and a replica of the statue’s face.

Including that last part was vital, said Edwin Schlossberg, president and principal designer at ESI Design, which created the exhibition spaces.

“This statue was built to congratulate the United States for fighting the Civil War to free the slaves,” he said. “It is based on this idea that liberty was a critical thing that we all had to struggle for, so that idea had to continue as a core value in this experience.”

In conjunction with the museum’s opening, the Statue of Liberty-Ellis Island Foundation, which spearheaded the effort to raise the $100 million in private-sector funds for the project, also developed an app with Apple to bring aspects of the museum to people who cannot visit in person.

Users will be able to explore the museum’s life-size replica of the statue’s foot, for instance. With augmented-reality technology, which superimposes animation over a real-life setting, users will be able to walk around and see the virtual replica from different perspectives. Other features include a look at the city skyline through the decades from the Statue of Liberty’s eyes, as well as how the statue itself looked before its copper exterior turned green.

The app is available only on Apple mobile devices, not Android. Some features, including an audio tour, will be available only on location.

The foundation is also launching a three-part podcast exploring the statue’s history and symbolism. The podcast won’t be limited to Apple’s podcast distribution channels.

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Associated Press writer Nick Jesdanun also contributed to this report.

Travelore Tips: September 11 Memorial And Intrepid Sea, Air & Space Museum Added To New York CityPASS Program

Beginning March 1, the National September 11 Memorial & Museum and the Intrepid Sea, Air & Space Museum will join the New York CityPASS® program. New York CityPASS ticket booklets provide discounted entry to six of the Big Apple’s most iconic attractions—including the Empire State Building, American Museum of Natural History, the Statue of Liberty and others—while saving travelers nearly half off regular combined admission prices and allowing them to skip most main-entrance ticket lines. The newly added museums will share a brand-new option ticket in the CityPASS booklet, giving travelers a choice between the two attractions.

The 9/11 Memorial remembers and honors the 2,983 people who were killed in the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, and Feb. 26, 1993. The site’s peaceful design, created by Michael Arad and Peter Walker, consists of two reflecting pools formed in the footprints of the original Twin Towers and a plaza of trees. Around the pools, the names of the victims are inscribed in bronze. Opened on the 10th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks, this sacred space has drawn visitors from all 50 states and more than 140 countries.

Located beneath the Memorial plaza, The 9/11 Memorial Museum displays monumental artifacts linked to the events of 9/11, while presenting intimate stories of loss, compassion, reckoning and recovery that are central to telling the story of the 2001 and 1993 attacks and their aftermath. The artifacts inside the space range from large-scale pieces, such as a fire truck that responded to the scene, intersecting steel beams known as The Cross at Ground Zero and an airliner fuselage, to personal remembrances of those who perished: clothing, photographs, recordings of final phone calls and more. Needless to say, the museum delivers an emotional and moving experience.

The centerpiece of the Intrepid Sea, Air & Space Museum is the legendary aircraft carrier Intrepid, which survived five kamikaze attacks and one torpedo strike during World War II, completed three tours of duty during the Vietnam War, and served as a NASA recovery vessel for space missions in the 1960s. Located at Pier 86 on the Hudson River, the Intrepid Museum takes visitors on an interactive journey through Intrepid’s history, inviting them to explore restored historic spaces and original artifacts that reveal the humanity behind the hardware. On the flight deck, visitors get an up-close look at more than 20 authentically restored aircraft, including the world’s fastest military jet and spy plane. They can also “take the helm” on the navigation bridge.

The museum also includes the Space Shuttle Pavilion, home to Enterprise, the world’s first space shuttle, which paved the way for America’s space shuttle program. On the park-like pier, visitors can also view the British Airways Concorde, the fastest commercial aircraft to ever cross the Atlantic Ocean, and the submarine Growler, the only American guided-missile submarine open to the public.

As of March 1, the start of the program year, each 2015 New York CityPASS booklet will save visitors 42 percent off combined admission to the included attractions: Empire State Building Experience (day/night entry to the 86th–floor observatory), American Museum of Natural History, The Metropolitan Museum of Art (includes same-week admission to The Cloisters museum and gardens), a choice between Top of the Rock observation deck and the Guggenheim Museum, a choice between the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island or a Circle Line Sightseeing Cruise, and a choice between the National September 11 Memorial & Museum and the Intrepid Sea, Air & Space Museum.

What Nobody Tells You About Your Favorite Tourist Attractions

We've all felt the blow of a travel letdown and ridden the high when a place far exceeds our expectations.

Before your next visit to a major tourist attraction, brace yourself -- for better or for worse -- by learning what you're really in for.

The Great Wall of China is STEEP.
One trekker recalls ascending 4,000 stairs just to get to the lowest possible entry point for a walk along the Wall. Sure there’s a gondola, but that’s beside the point -- we would just wish someone had told us what a monster the thing was before we decided to hike it. 

There's a Pizza Hut at the Pyramids. 
...and it's right on top of a KFC, which means the views of Giza are priceless. Watch out for the camel handlers outside, though: they've been known to pitch a modest price for a ride, then make you pay exorbitant amounts to get down from the camel. 

The "Mona Lisa" plays hard to get. 
A line divider keeps visitors far from the painting itself. Stuck behind hordes of camera-wielding tourists, you'll be even farther.

You can touch stuff at Pompeii.
If the "Mona Lisa" is so off-limits, you'd think ancient ruins would be encased in a massive glass box. Yet you can touch, stand and sit on many of Pompeii's remnants. 

Dead Sea salt will fry your eyeballs.
"Fry" might not be the correct medical term, but it will indeed burn like crazy. The Dead Sea is one of the saltiest bodies of water in the world, so you should avoid shaving your legs a few days before your dip and make sure you don't dunk your face -- it'll hurt. And "if you swallow seawater, request help from the lifeguard."

Iguazu Falls can be... brown?
When imagining "one of the most spectacular waterfalls in the world," cascades of turquoise blue likely come to mind. But be warned: the water is closer to the tone of rich Brazilian coffee in some spots due to deforestation and during times ofheavy rainfall. 

There's a quicker way up the Eiffel Tower.
Ascending the Parisian jewel is no easy experience: it's not unusual to wait hours for an elevator. Sneaky shortcuts include buying tickets online to pre-book an arrival slot or climbing the stairs to the second level instead of taking a lift from the bottom like most tourists.

The Leaning Tower of Pisa isn't "leaning" as much anymore.
"Straightening out" is the more appropriate verb -- the tower recovered almost an inch of its vertical incline between 2001 and 2013. Visitors also complain that there's not much to do in Pisa itself (though some would disagree). Most guided tours drive you in, let you snap some photos, and bus you right back out.

Lady Liberty is exclusive.
You must reserve a spot ahead of time to enter the Statue of Liberty's headpiece. There's a maximum of four crown reservations allowed per order and only one reservation per person during any six-month period.

The Gardens of Versailles are better than the Palace.
This isn't the dinky plot of flowers behind most castles -- the gardens and park spill over almost 2,000 acres of fairytale-ish fountains, grottoes and pathways. Don't skip them!

You can't just "go see 'The Last Supper.'"
Da Vinci's famous painting is in the refectory (aka dining hall) of the Santa Maria delle Grazie convent in Milan, but don't you dare think it's possible to just saunter in. You'll need to reserve a visitation time up to two months in advance, and you can only stay inside the refectory for 15 minutes. If tickets are sold out, risk it by going standby, or consider joining a guided tour that includes the painting as a stop.

Old Faithful isn't very faithful.
You could wait around for almost two hours before that big guy erupts. 

Photos are forbidden in the Sistine Chapel.
Even sneaking a shot is near impossible.

The Grand Canyon doesn't take drop-ins.
It's a stunning sight from the rim. But if you're craving more, don't count on a casual jaunt to the Canyon floor. The National Park Service warns there are no easy trails into or out of the Canyon: "the difference between a great hike or a trip to the hospital is up to you." Day hikes exist, but can be long and might include unpaved trails, icy conditions or a total absence of water stops. Don't forget thatcoming up takes twice as long as hiking down.

Solo shots at the Trevi Fountain are RARE.
Photos come easy for Lizzie McGuire, but you'll have to fight for yours. Do you SEE those crowds?!

 |Contributed By Suzy Strutner,The Huffington Post 

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Tickets For The Statue of Liberty National Monument Go On Sale Wednesday, May 8th, For First Time Since Hurricaine Sandy

 In preparation for the celebratory reopening on July 4th, Statue Cruises announced today that tickets for the Statue of Liberty National Monument will go on sale on Wednesday, May 8, 2013.    

Visitors will have access to The Statue of Liberty National Monument and Ellis Island for the first time since Hurricane Sandy made landfall on October 29, 2012.  Visitors will have access to the Statue of Liberty’s crown, pedestal, observation deck, museum, and grounds.  “We are looking forward to the opportunity to welcome visitors back to Lady Liberty,” said Mike Burke, COO, Statue Cruises.

Visitors will have limited access to Ellis Island and further details about Ellis Island will be announced in the next few weeks.

Tickets will be available through September 2, 2013 and can be purchased online at www.StatueCruises.com or by phone at (201) 604-2800. Online reservations at www.StatueCruises.com are highly encouraged. School groups and tours operators can call (551) 655-3310.

Prior to the reopening on July 4th, Statue Cruises is offering daily Statue of Liberty Harbor Tours, giving visitors opportunities to enjoy the closest views of the Statue of Liberty now. The hour-long tours depart from Battery Park at the foot of Manhattan every 30 minutes, seven days a week from 9:00am-5:00pm.