The Forgotten Relationship Between Lady Liberty & Egypt

Over the past year, the return of ancient Egyptian artefacts has brought renewed attention to the long journeys Egypt’s cultural legacy has taken beyond its borders. In that context, it is worth revisiting an unlikely chapter in global history: when one of the most recognisable symbols of modern America, the Statue of Liberty, was originally conceived to stand on Egyptian soil, drawing on Egypt's enduring cultural iconography.

Before she became the face of New York City, Lady Liberty was imagined as a guardian of Port Said, welcoming ships as they entered the newly opened Suez Canal. French sculptor Frédéric Auguste Bartholdi first developed the idea after travelling through Egypt in 1855, where he was struck by the scale and permanence of ancient monuments, particularly the colossal figures carved into the façade of Abu Simbel. From this encounter emerged the early concept he titled 'Egypt Carrying the Light to Asia'.Bartholdi envisioned the original statue as a robed fellahi woman, a figure meant to feel both monumental and familiar, embodying a sense of homecoming rather than conquest. Yet embedded within this vision was a striking colonial contradiction. The statue was intended to symbolise Egypt’s entry into modernity and industrial progress, framed through a westernising lens, while borrowing its visual authority from a civilisation that had long stood as a symbol of endurance, autonomy, and cultural sovereignty.

The proposal was eventually presented to Khedive Ismail Pasha and the ruling Albanian dynasty, but the timing proved unfavourable. Egypt was already burdened by the immense costs of constructing the Suez Canal, and the additional expense of building and inaugurating such a colossal monument was deemed unfeasible. The project was quietly abandoned.

The idea, however, did not disappear. Bartholdi later reworked the design as a gift from France to the United States, commemorating their shared opposition to British rule and the end of the American Civil War. Unveiled in New York Harbour in 1886, the Statue of Liberty would go on to become a global emblem of freedom, hope, and arrival, particularly for generations of immigrants.

Debate has long surrounded the identity of Lady Liberty’s model, with theories ranging from Bartholdi’s mother, Augusta Charlotte Bartholdi, to French model Isabelle Boyer. The most widely accepted influence remains Libertas, the Roman goddess of freedom, traditionally depicted in flowing robes and holding a raised sceptre or torch. These references reinforced the statue’s role as a personification of strength and liberty, even as its deeper origins were gradually forgotten.

In many ways, the story of the Statue of Liberty’s Egyptian beginnings reflects the far-reaching influence of Egypt’s ancient imagination. Lady Liberty stands as a quiet reminder of how deeply Egyptian visual language has shaped the world’s most enduring symbols. Though she remains on distant shores, her origins remain firmly rooted in the land that first inspired her.