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Statue of Liberty to reopen

Riva Davydow, right, and Ilya Davydow, left, of Ramla, Israel, return from visiting Liberty Island on Monday, one day before the Statue of Liberty reopens its doors to the public for the first time since its closure on Sept. 11, 2001. (Associated Press / The Spokesman-Review)
Richard Pyle Associated Press
Riva Davydow, right, and Ilya Davydow, left, of Ramla, Israel, return from visiting Liberty Island on Monday, one day before the Statue of Liberty reopens its doors to the public for the first time since its closure on Sept. 11, 2001. (Associated Press / The Spokesman-Review)

NEW YORK – Barring last-minute terrorism alerts or other problems, the interior and base of the Statue of Liberty will reopen to visitors today for the first time since the 2001 terrorist attacks that destroyed the nearby World Trade Center.

National Park Service officials went ahead with the reopening plan despite warnings of terrorist threats to the New York Stock Exchange in lower Manhattan and to the World Bank and International Monetary Fund headquarters in Washington, D.C.

“I think it’s significant that, despite the raising of the alert levels, we are still going ahead with the reopening,” Assistant Interior Secretary Craig Manson said Monday. “I think it shows the world that liberty cannot be intimidated.”

The new warnings did not merit any delay in the reopening of the 117-year-old statue, said Larry Parkinson, the Interior Department’s deputy assistant secretary for law enforcement and security.

Since shortly after Sept. 11, visitors to Liberty and Ellis islands have been passing through airport-type security checks before boarding ferries at lower Manhattan’s Battery Park. There are more checks at the statue.

The latter include a device that blows air through clothing and tests for evidence of explosive particles.

On Sept. 11, 2001, the second of two hijacked jetliners skimmed low over the statue just seconds before crashing into the World Trade Center’s south tower, 1 1/2 miles away. The 12 acres of Liberty Island were closed to the public for two months after the attacks.

Most of the 152-foot copper figure was sealed off to visitors and will remain so.

But visitors may choose between two tours: a walk around the promenade atop the star-shaped fort on which the statue stands or an elevator ride inside the pedestal to the calf level of the figure, about 10 stories high, to gaze upward through a glass partition at the steel girders and armatures holding it together and view the harbor panorama from a narrow observation deck.

Also reopening is a museum inside the base that details the history of the Statue of Liberty, including such artifacts as the original lit-from-within torch, which was replaced during a 1986 renovation with a gilded version lit from outside.

Parkinson said the government “has not foreclosed” the idea of eventually reopening the statue’s body so visitors could once again climb to the crown, but safety factors make that unlikely.