The Statue of Liberty is an iconic blue-green symbol of freedom, but it was not always that color. When France gifted the statue to the U.S., it had reddish-brown copper skin
. The color change is due to a natural process called oxidation, which occurs when the copper on the statue reacts with oxygen and other chemicals in the air, such as sulfur and chloride
. Over time, the copper turned from a shiny copper color to a dull brown and then to the blue-green shade seen today
. This transformation was influenced by various factors, including the environment and the chemistry of the materials used in the statue's construction
