The exhibition 'Auguste Bartholdi. La Liberté éclairant le monde' is being presented at the Musée d’Orsay in Paris from 15 September 2026 through 31 January 2027. Alongside it, the museum is presenting a virtual-reality experience that follows Bartholdi’s project from the conception of its construction through its realization and to its inauguration in New York on 28 October 1886.
The exhibition traces the origin of the Statue of Liberty to an evening in 1865 at the home of Bartholdi’s friend, the jurist Édouard Laboulaye, where an idea was proposed: France could offer the United States a large monument celebrating friendship between the two peoples.
Building such a statue required raising a great deal of money and deploying considerable ingenuity; Bartholdi crossed the Atlantic to persuade Americans, newspapers around the world reported on the project, and sections of the statue, still under construction, were displayed at world’s fairs.
The virtual-reality experience lasts 50 minutes, including 35 minutes using a headset, and is undertaken while walking in groups of 10 people.
The result was that everyone knew the giant statue even before it was finished.
