Located on a 12-acre island, the Statue of Liberty was gifted on October 26, 1886 to the people of the United States by the people of France in recognition of friendship established during the American Revolution. Standing at Liberty Island at the mouth of the Hudson River in New York harbour, it welcomes all visitors, immigrants and returning Americans. The copper-clad statue is sculpted by Frederic Auguste Bartholdi. Alexandre Gustave Eiffel, the designer of the Eiffel Tower, engineered the internal structure. It became a national monument of USA in 1924 and is today recognised as a symbol of liberty throughout the world.