Did Jules Verne see the Statue of Liberty (in France)?

[mken...@aol.com]

Hi friends, the head of the statue was exhibited at the Paris World's Fair, 1878, and if I’m not mistaken the statue was shown in Paris in 1884, see here:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Statue_of_Liberty#Construction_in_France

Did Jules Verne go see it?

Cheers,

Matthias

[mken...@aol.com]

If you are interested… I got an answer in the German forum https://inside-forum.de/forum/index.php?thread/58370-jules-verne-und-die-freiheitsstatue/&postID=293939#post293939

and with DeepL available for free, I can easily post an English translation of Volker’s answer:

«Hello everyone,

I wanted to reply on the forum, but like many others I can't log in.

There is no direct evidence that Verne saw this statue in person, but since he visited this WA (unlike the WAs of 1889 and 1900), this is very likely. The head of the Statue of Liberty could be climbed on the inside via spiral staircases and delighted visitors with a beautiful view. At least Verne knew this fact from illustrations in contemporary magazines.

I am convinced that a literary reflection of this sight can be found in Verne's work in the Adventures of the Raton Family (Chapters X and XI), in which the Raton family climbs up the inside of the Sphinx of Romiradour.»
Translated with DeepL.com (free version)

WA is an abbreviation for "Weltausstellung" = World’s Fair.

Cheers,

Matthias