French sculptors pledge to build titanium Statue of Liberty – and Elon Musk approves
France's self-professed last sculpture foundry has weighed into a row over whether the US should return the Statue of Liberty to its country of origin by proposing to build a new one out of titanium.
The proposal by Nice-based Atelier Missor, which specialises in sculpting famed French figures such as Napoleon and Joan of Arc, received approval from Elon Musk, who called the idea 'cool' on X.
The foundry's plan to build a new Statue of Liberty 'to withstand millions of years' followed a call by French centre-Left MEP Raphael Glucksmann for America to return the original.
During a political rally of his Place Publique movement, Mr Glucksmann launched a blistering attack on the Trump administration in which he said: 'We're going to say to the Americans who have chosen to side with the tyrants, to the Americans who fired researchers for demanding scientific freedom: 'Give us back the Statue of Liberty.''
Mr Glucksmann is a member of the Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats and a staunch supporter of Ukraine.
France gifted the statue, which stands 305 feet tall and weighs 450,000lbs, to the US on July 4, 1884, to commemorate the 108th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence.
The iconic copper-clad sculpture was created by Frédéric Auguste Bartholdi and sits on Liberty Island in New York Harbour.
'We gave it to you as a gift,' Mr Glucksmann went on, citing the United States' founding values of freedom and liberty. 'But apparently you despise it. So it will be just fine here at home.'
He concluded his remarks by stating France would welcome top researchers who were fired in the cuts to the US National Institutes of Health and similar organisations.
His comments prompted a fiery rebuke from Karoline Leavitt, White House press secretary, who said: 'My advice to that unnamed low-level French politician would be to remind them that it's only because of the United States of America that the French are not speaking German right now.
'So they should be very grateful to our great country.'
French commentators pointed out that if it weren't for French military and financial support during the War of Independence, America would likely still be a 'British colony' today.
Mr Glucksmann later fired back: 'No one, of course, will come and steal the Statue of Liberty. The statue is yours. But what it embodies belongs to everyone. And if the free world no longer interests your government, then we will take up the torch, here in Europe.'
'Withstand millions of years'
Wading into the row, Atelier Missor wrote: 'To our fellow Americans: we are the last sculpture foundry in France and we have a message for you.'
'Keep the Statue of Liberty; it's rightfully yours. But get ready for another one.
'A New Statue of Liberty, much bigger, made out of titanium to withstand millions of years.
'We, the French people, are going to make it again!'
The foundry, which said its aim was to fulfil Napoleon's dream to 'make Paris the capital of the universe', was recently commissioned to build a monument statue of Joan of Arc for the French Riviera city of Nice.
However, in January, the local state prefect cancelled the €170,000 contract and ordered the 4.5-ton golden bronze statue to be taken down, saying Nice's Right-wing town hall had failed to respect the proper public tender process.
Atelier Missor said the annulment had left it on the verge of bankruptcy. A crowdfunding campaign to pay for the statue launched by Nice former deputy mayor in charge of culture has gathered €50,000.
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