USA MEGALITHIC CONSTRUCTIONS

Certainly there is a vast number of megalithic buildings in the USA because it seems as if the concept of magnificence for Americans was part of their perception of the world, or in other words, “Get a big donkey, whether it walks or not".

In spite of the fact each state has its own outstanding landmark, two of them call my attention especially, both of them located in two different states with a curious history behind them each one.

The first of them is the Statue of Liberty in NYC (NY state). In 1885 France gave the statue to the States as a gift to commemorate the centenary of the Declaration of Independence by the USA. The 350 pieces of the statue were moved in a total of 214 crates which were spread over Staten Island. Then they came across with a problem: the USA didn’t have the money for its set-up. However, it was not until the owner of the newspaper New York World gave a step forward, Joseph Pulitzer, that the set-up was possible. How?

His daily newspaper divulged the news; the need for money which made the assembly of the statue possible. Finally, the newspaper received 121,000 donations. From this moment onwards, 200 men had very harsh work ahead since they had to set the statue up more than 45 metres high. 
The hook-up of the statue was based on a three-step process:

1. The base of the Statue

                         

               

 2. The iron skeleton designed by Gustave Eiffel

3. The hook-up of the outside layer

Some curious data about the statue are related with the proportions of certain parts of the statue: the sandal is 32 times bigger than 1 human foot, 1 nail weighs 1,6 kg or the muse that inspired the sculptor in the design of the statue’s face was his own mother! After 6 months of assembly, the statue of Liberty stayed as a gateway for immigrants coming from everywhere to New York. The current colour of the statue is green as a result of a rusting process.

The second megalithic construction is the Mount Rushmore in South Dakota. Immersed in the Great Depression, the USA government decided to build this monument to give back self-confidence to the USA population. Its construction started in 1927 and was carved into a devasted corner of a 250-metre-high mountain with detonation!!! The sculpture represents the faces of four leading USA Presidents: Washington, Jefferson, Roosevelt and Lincoln at 20 meters from the bottom of the Mount.


The movie “North by Northwest” starred by Cary Grant shows scenes of a reconstruction of this sculpture since the USA government didn’t let the director of the film record any scene at the original landmark. Today it is a place of a highly touristic attraction, since they represent the pyramids of the USA.