The Statue of Liberty (French: Statue de la Liberté), officially titled Liberty Enlightening the World (French: la Liberté éclairant le monde), dedicated on October 28, 1886, is a monument commemorating the centennial of the signing of the United States Declaration of Independence, given to the United States by the people of France to represent the friendship between the two countries established during the American Revolution.It represents a woman wearing a stola, a radiant crown and sandals, trampling a broken chain, carrying a torch in her raised right hand and a tabula ansata, where the date of the Declaration of Independence JULY IV MDCCLXXVI.is inscribed, in her left arm. Standing on Liberty Island in New York Harbor, it welcomes visitors, immigrants, and returning Americans traveling by ship.Frédéric Auguste Bartholdi sculpted the statue and obtained a U.S. patent for its structure.Maurice Koechlin—chief engineer of Gustave Eiffel's engineering company and designer of the Eiffel Tower—engineered the internal structure. The pedestal was designed by architect Richard Morris Hunt. Eugène Viollet-le-Duc was responsible for the choice of copper in the statue's construction, and for the adoption of the repoussé technique, where a malleable metal is hammered on the reverse side.
The statue is made of a sheathing of pure copper, hung on a framework of steel (originally puddled iron) with the exception of the flame of the torch, which is coated in gold leaf (originally made of copper and later altered to hold glass panes). It stands atop a rectangular stonework pedestal with a foundation in the shape of an irregular eleven-pointed star. The statue is 151 ft (46 m) tall, but with the pedestal and foundation, it is 305 ft (93 m) tall.
Worldwide, the Statue of Liberty is one of the most recognizable icons of the United States.For many years it was one of the first glimpses of the United States for millions of immigrants and visitors after ocean voyages from around the world.
The statue is the central part of Statue of Liberty National Monument, administered by the National Park Service. The National Monument also includes Ellis Island.
History
Discussions in France over a suitable gift to the United States to mark the Centennial of the American Declaration of Independence were headed by the politician and sympathetic writer of the history of the United States, Édouard René de Laboulaye. French sculptor Frédéric Bartholdi was commissioned to design a sculpture with the year 1876 in mind for completion. The idea for the commemorative gift then grew out of the political turmoil which was shaking France at the time. The French Third Republic was still considered as a temporary arrangement by many, who wished a return to monarchism, or to some form of constitutional authoritarianism such as they had known under Napoleon. The idea of giving a colossal representation of republican virtues to a sister republic across the sea served as a focus for the republican cause against other politicians.
The replica Statue of Liberty on the Île des Cygnes in Paris, France; inaugurated in 1889, it faces west towards her sister in New York Harbor
The first small terracotta model was created in 1870. It is now exhibited at the Musée des beaux-arts de Lyon. The first reduced scale bronze replica was given to the city of Paris by Americans residing in the French capital on May 13, 1885; the statue was originally located in the Place des États-Unis and was moved to the Île des Cygnes in 1889.
While on a visit to Egypt that was to shift his artistic perspective from simply grand to colossal, Bartholdi was inspired by the project of the Suez Canal which was being undertaken by Count Ferdinand de Lesseps, who later became a lifelong friend of his. He envisioned a giant lighthouse standing at the entrance to the canal and drew plans for it. It would be patterned after the Roman goddess Libertas, modified to resemble a robed Egyptian peasant, with light beaming out from both a headband and a torch thrust dramatically upward into the skies. Bartholdi presented his plans to the Egyptian Khedive, Isma'il Pasha, in 1867 and, with revisions, again in 1869, but the project was never commissioned because of financial issues then troubling the Ottoman Empire.
Bartholdi's design patent Circa 1880 model of the plaster mock-up being realized in the Bartholdi atelier, Rue de Chazelles, near Parc Monceau, Paris
It was agreed that in a joint effort, the people of the United States were to build the base, and the French people were responsible for the statue and its assembly in the States. In France, public donations, various forms of entertainment including notably performances of La liberté éclairant le monde (Liberty enlightening the world) by soon-to-be famous composer Charles Gounod at Paris Opera, and a charitable lottery were among the methods used to raise the 2,250,000 francs ($250,000). In the United States, benefit theatrical events, art exhibitions, auctions and prize fights assisted in providing needed funds.
Meanwhile in France, Bartholdi required the assistance of an engineer to address structural issues associated with designing such a colossal copper sculpture. Gustave Eiffel (designer of the Eiffel Tower) was commissioned to design the massive iron pylon and secondary skeletal framework which allows the statue's copper skin to move independently yet stand upright. Eiffel delegated the detailed work to his trusted structural engineer, Maurice Koechlin.
Bartholdi had initially planned to have the statue completed and presented to the United States on July 4, 1876, but a late start and subsequent delays prevented it. However, by that time the right arm and torch were completed. This part of the statue was displayed at the Centennial Exposition in Philadelphia, where visitors were charged 50 cents to climb the ladder to the balcony. The money raised this way was used to start funding the pedestal.
On June 30, 1878, at the Paris Exposition, the completed head of the statue was showcased in the garden of the Trocadéro Palace, while other pieces were on display in the Champs de Mars.
Back in the United States, the site, authorized in New York Harbor by an Act of Congress on March 3, 1877, was selected by General William Tecumseh Sherman, who settled on Bartholdi's own choice, then known as Bedloe's Island (named after Isaac Bedloe), where there was already an early 19th century star-shaped fortification named Fort Wood.United States Minister to France Levi P. Morton hammered the first nail in the construction of the statue in Paris on October 24, 1881.
Richard Morris Hunt's pedestal under construction in June 1885
On February 18, 1879, Bartholdi was granted a design patent, U.S. Patent D11,023, on "a statue representing Liberty enlightening the world, the same consisting, essentially, of the draped female figure, with one arm upraised, bearing a torch, and while the other holds an inscribed tablet, and having upon the head a diadem, substantially as set forth." The patent described the head as having "classical, yet severe and calm, features," noted that the body is "thrown slightly over to the left so as to gravitate upon the left leg, the whole figure thus being in equilibrium," and covered representations in "any manner known to the glyptic art in the form of a statue or statuette, or in alto-relievo or bass-relief, in metal, stone, terra-cotta, plaster-of-Paris, or other plastic composition."
The financing for the statue was completed in France in July 1882. Fund-raising for the pedestal, led by William M. Evarts, proceeded slowly, so publisher Joseph Pulitzer (who established the Pulitzer Prize) opened up the editorial pages of his newspaper, The World, to support the fund raising effort in 1883. Pulitzer used his newspaper to criticize both the rich, who had failed to finance the pedestal construction, and the middle class who were content to rely upon the wealthy to provide the funds.[20] His campaign was an important contribution to the effort, but ultimately Senator Evarts and the American Committee he headed raised the majority of funds for the pedestal.
The construction of the statue was completed in France in July 1884. The cornerstone of the pedestal, designed by American architect Richard Morris Hunt, was laid on August 5, 1884, but the construction had to be stopped by lack of funds in January 1885. It was resumed on May 11, 1885 after a renewed fund campaign by Joseph Pulitzer in March 1885. Thirty-eight of the forty-six courses of masonry were yet to be built.
The statue arrived in New York Harbor on June 17, 1885 on board the French frigate Isère commanded by Lespinasse De Saune.[21] To prepare for transit, the Statue was reduced to 350 individual pieces and packed in 214 crates. (The right arm and the torch, which were completed earlier, had been exhibited at the Centennial Exposition in Philadelphia in 1876, and thereafter at Madison Square in New York City.) Joseph Henderson (pilot) was expressly selected to escort the French Steamer into the New York Harbor to Bedloe's Island. This event and Pilot Henderson's appearance was printed in the New York Times: "Old Pilot Henderson, who jumped from the skylight down on the quarter deck of the Isère."
Financing for the pedestal was completed on August 11, 1885 and construction was finished on April 22, 1886. When the last stone of the pedestal was swung into place the masons reached into their pockets and showered into the mortar a collection of silver coins.
Built into the pedestal's massive masonry are two sets of four iron girders, connected by iron tie beams that are carried up to become part of Eiffel's framework for the statue itself. Thus, Liberty is integral with her pedestal.
Used as a lighthouse, the original torch fatally disoriented birds
Currier & Ives chromolithograph of the statue published one year before it was erected depicts the statue's original copper-bronze hue, but situates it facing southward, instead of eastward, showing Manhattan and the Brooklyn Bridge in the background
The statue, which was stored for eleven months in crates waiting for its pedestal to be finished, was then reassembled in four months. On October 28, 1886, the Statue of Liberty was unveiled by President Grover Cleveland in front of thousands of spectators. (Cleveland, as Governor of the State of New York, had earlier vetoed a bill by the New York legislature to contribute $50,000 to building of the pedestal.)[23]
Nearly 10 years after the Statue of Liberty was assembled, the United States donated $10,000,000 USD (adjusted for inflation) to various charities in France.
The Statue of Liberty functioned as a lighthouse from 1886 to 1902. At that time the U.S. Lighthouse Board was responsible for its operation. There was a lighthouse keeper and the electric light could be seen for 24 miles (39 km) at sea. As a lighthouse, it is the first in the United States to use electricity; there was also an electric plant on the island to generate power for the light.
Wilbur Wright was the first person to fly an airplane around the statue, at waist level, a feat he performed on September 29, 1909 during the Hudson-Fulton Celebration.
In 1913 a group of young pilots were graduated from the Moisant School of Aviation based on Long Island. One of the graduates, the Mexican pilot Juan Pablo Aldasoro was selected to perform the first flight above the statue. All of the graduates later on became members of the Early Birds of Aviation.
In 1916, floodlights were placed around the base of the statue. Also in 1916, the Black Tom explosion caused $100,000 worth of damage ($1.98 million in 2008 dollars[27]) to the statue, embedding fragmentation and eventually leading to the closing of the torch to visitors. The same year, Gutzon Borglum, sculptor of Mount Rushmore, modified the original copper torch by cutting away most of the copper in the flame, retrofitting glass panes and installing an internal light. After these modifications, the torch severely leaked from rainwater and snow melts, accelerating corrosion inside the statue. President Franklin D. Roosevelt rededicated the Statue of Liberty on its Fiftieth anniversary (October 28, 1936).
In 1956, through an Act of Congress, Bedloe's Island was renamed Liberty Island officially, although Liberty Island had been used informally since the turn of the century.
As with all historic areas administered by the National Park Service, Statue of Liberty National Monument, along with Ellis Island and Liberty Island, was listed on the National Register of Historic Places on October 15, 1966.
In 1972, President Richard M. Nixon dedicated the American Museum of Immigration, housed in structural additions to the base of the pedestal on top of what was Fort Wood.
In 1984, the Statue of Liberty was added to the list of World Heritage Sites.
In 2007, the Statue of Liberty was one of 20 finalists in a competition to name the New Seven Wonders of the World.
[edit] Inspiration for the face
Replica of the face of the statue, seen as part of the exhibit in one of the corridors of the statue's pedestal. Note the retention of the original copper color
Unsubstantiated sources cite different models for the face of the statue. One indicated the then-recently widowed Isabella Eugenie Boyer, the wife of Isaac Singer, the sewing-machine industrialist. "She was rid of the uncouth presence of her husband, who had left her with only his most socially desirable attributes: his fortune and -- his children. She was, from the beginning of her career in Paris, a well-known figure. As the good-looking French widow of an American industrialist she was called upon to be Bartholdi's model for the Statue of Liberty." Another source believed that the "stern face" belonged to Bartholdi's mother, Charlotte Bartholdi (1801–1891), with whom he was very close.National Geographic magazine also pointed to his mother, noting that Bartholdi never denied nor explained the resemblance.
Symbolism
The classical appearance (Roman stola, sandals, facial expression) derives from Libertas, ancient Rome's goddess of freedom from slavery, oppression, and tyranny. Her raised right foot is on the move. This symbol of Liberty and Freedom is not standing still or at attention in the harbor, it is moving forward, as her left foot tramples broken shackles at her feet, in symbolism of the United States' wish to be free from oppression and tyranny.Since the 1940s, it has been claimed that the seven spikes or diadem atop of the crown epitomize the Seven Seas and seven continents. Her torch signifies enlightenment. The Keystone in her hand represents knowledge and shows the date of the United States Declaration of Independence, in Roman numerals, July IV, MDCCLXXVI.
The general appearance of the statue’s head approximates the Greek Sun-god Apollo or the Roman Sun-god Helios as preserved on an ancient marble tablet (today in the Archaeological Museum of Corinth, Corinth, Greece)—Apollo was represented as a solar deity, dressed in a similar robe and having on its head a "radiate crown" with the seven spiked rays of the Helios-Apollo's sun rays, like the Statue's nimbus or halo. The ancient Colossus of Rhodes, one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World, was a statue of Helios with a radiate crown. The Colossus is referred to in the 1883 sonnet The New Colossus by Emma Lazarus. Lazarus's poem was later engraved on a bronze plaque and mounted inside the Statue of Liberty in 1903.
To different observers, the statue is a symbol of the values that the United States should venerate and to which it should aspire. For example, documentarian Ken Burns recounts how the statue became a symbol of "America's open-door policy" with regard to immigration.In his book, Man's Search for Meaning, the existential therapist Viktor Frankl recommended "that the Statue of Liberty on the East Coast should be supplemented by a Statue of Responsibility on the West Coast."
[edit] Iconographic precedents
The torch and the book are the attributes of Wisdom in Cesare Ripa's Iconologia (1611)
Augustin Dumont's Genius of Liberty
As mentioned above, the colossus of Rhodes could have been one source of inspiration for the radiant crown.
In the modern era, radiant-crown-wearing allegorical statues were scuplted by Italian artists, notably Canova's' allegory of Faith on the tomb of pope Clement XIII, and Camillo Pacetti's allegory of New Testament above the entrance of Milan Cathedral.
They became increasingly common in the second half of the 19th century in France and Élias Robert's France crowning Art and Industry (1855), among others, could have provided inspiration for the Statue of Liberty . The Great Seal of the French Second Republic (1848–1852) displays an allegory of Liberty represented sitting and wearing a seven ray radiant crown.
Earlier modern versions of statues of Liberty include the one erected atop a temple of Concordia in Lyon for the Federation festival of May 30, 1790and the plaster figure wearing a red phrygian cap and carrying a spear in her right hand, replacing Louis XV's equestrial statue on the place de la Révolution - formerly place Louis XV, now place de la Concorde - in Paris from August 1793 to 1800 next to the guillotine[46], inspiring Madame Roland's famous remark: Oh Liberty, what crimes are committed in thy name!.
The decision to depict Liberty wearing a radiant crown rather than the traditional attribute of liberty, the phrygian cap, is a negative one, avoiding what was then perceived as the symbol of radical revolutionary movements. Similarly, Thomas Crawford had to renounce to his project to dress the Capitol's Statue of Freedom with a phrygian cap because of the concern that it might be seen as an abolitionist symbol.
The torch was associated with Liberty prior to Bartholdi's statue of Liberty in the right hand of Augustin Dumont's Genius of Liberty on the July Column, a monument inaugurated in 1840. The idea of bringing light to the world was expressed with a torch by Jean-Baptiste Carpeaux in his Imperial France bringing light to the world and protecting Agriculture and Science in 1866., but the idea proposed by Hector Horeau in 1868 to build a colossus of Intelligent France enlightening the world on the Hill of Chaillot was never carried out
More than a hundred years ago an extraordinary mechanism was found by sponge divers at the bottom of the sea near the island of Antikythera. It astonished the whole international community of experts on the ancient world. Was it an astrolabe? Was it an orrery or an astronomical clock? Or something else?
For decades, scientific investigation failed to yield much light and relied more on imagination than the facts. However research over the last half century has begun to reveal its secrets. It dates from around the end of the 2nd century B.C. and is the most sophisticated mechanism known from the ancient world. Nothing as complex is known for the next thousand years. The Antikythera Mechanism is now understood to be dedicated to astronomical phenomena and operates as a complex mechanical "computer" which tracks the cycles of the Solar System.
Previous researchers have used the latest technologies available to them -such as x-ray analysis- to try to begin to unravel its complex mysteries. Now a new initiative is building on this previous work, using the very latest techniques available today. The Antikythera Mechanism Research Project is an international collaboration of academic researchers, supported by some of the world's best high-technology companies, which aims to completely reassess the function and significance of the Antikythera Mechanism.
The project is under the aegis of the Hellenic Ministry of Culture and was initially supported by a grant from the Leverhulme Trust, UK. More details bout subsequent funding are here. The project has received strong backing from the National Archaeological Museum in Athens, which is custodian of this unique artefact. Two of the Museum's senior staff, Head of Chemistry, Eleni Magou, and Archaeologist-museologist, Mary Zafeiropoulou, have co-ordinated the Museum's side of the project and are actively involved with the research.
One UK and two Greek universities are the core of the academic research group -the astronomer Mike Edmunds and the mathematician and filmmaker Tony Freeth (University of Cardiff), the astronomer John Seiradakis (University of Thessalonica), the astronomer Xenophon Moussas and the physicist and historian of science Yanis Bitsakis (University of Athens). And last, but not least, the philologist and palaeographer Agamemnon Tselikas (NBG Cultural Foundation).
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The Antikythera mechanism is believed to be an ancient mechanical analog computer (as opposed to most computers today which are digital computers) designed to calculate astronomical positions. It was discovered in the Antikythera wreck off the Greek island of Antikythera, between Kythera and Crete, and has been dated to about 150-100 BC. It is especially notable for being a technological artifact with no known predecessor or successor; other machines using technology of such complexity would not appear until the 18th century.
Discovery
Sometime during the year 1901, Elias Stadiatis, a Greek sponge diver, with a sponge diving group, discovered the wreck of an ancient cargo ship off Antikythera island at a depth of 50 meters. (Sponge divers had earlier retrieved several statues and other artifacts from the site. The mechanism itself was discovered in 1901.) The name has been confused in some recent publications with that of a politician of the same name.
It was noticed that a piece of rock recovered from the site had a gear wheel embedded in it. Examination revealed that the rock was in fact a heavily encrusted and corroded mechanism that had survived the shipwreck in three main parts and dozens of smaller fragments.The device itself was surprisingly thin, about 33 cm (13 in) high, 17 cm (6.7 in) wide, and 9 cm (3.5 in) thick, made of bronze and originally mounted in a wooden frame. It was inscribed with a text of over 2,000 characters, many of which have been deciphered.
Jacques-Yves Cousteau visited the wreck for the last time in 1978, but found no more remains of the Antikythera Mechanism. Professor Michael Edmunds of Cardiff University who led the study of the mechanism said: "This device is just extraordinary, the only thing of its kind. The design is beautiful, the astronomy is exactly right. The way the mechanics are designed just makes your jaw drop. Whoever has done this has done it extremely carefully."
The device is displayed in the Bronze Collection of the National Archaeological Museum of Athens, accompanied by a reconstruction made and offered to the museum by Derek de Solla Price. Another reconstruction is on display at the American Computer Museum in Bozeman, Montana.
Origins
The origins of the mechanism are unclear, as are the circumstances by which it came to be on the cargo ship. The ship was Roman, but there is no doubt that the mechanism itself was made in Greece.
One hypothesis is that the device was constructed at an academy founded by the ancient Stoic philosopher Posidonius on the Greek island of Rhodes, which at the time was known as a centre of astronomy and mechanical engineering. Investigators have suggested that the ship could have been carrying it to Rome, together with other treasure looted from the island to support a triumphal parade being staged by Julius Caesar.
Function and Purpose
The Antikythera mechanism is one of the world's oldest known geared devices. It has puzzled and intrigued historians of science and technology since its discovery. Following decades of work in order to clean the device, systematic investigations were undertaken in 1951 by British Derek J. de Solla Price, professor of history of science at Yale University at that time.
In June 1959, in a front-page article in Scientific American titled "An ancient Greek computer", he brought forth the theory that the Antikythera mechanism was a device for calculating the motions of stars and planets, which would make the device the first analog computer. Up until that time the function of the Antikythera mechanism was largely unknown, though it had been correctly identified as an astronomical device, perhaps being an astrolabe.
In 1971 the Greek nuclear research center "DEMOKRITOS" performed gamma-ray scans of the mechanism. In 1972 Price teamed up with Greek nuclear physicist Christoforos Karakalos to carry out X-ray analysis of the mechanism, in this way revealing critical information concerning the device's interior configuration.
In 1974 he authored "Gears from the Greeks: the Antikythera mechanism - a calendar computer from ca. 80 B.C.", where he presented a model of how the mechanism could have functioned. Recent research breakthroughs seem to give credence to Price's theory.
The device is all the more impressive for its use of a differential gear - previously believed to have been invented in the 16th century - and for the level of miniaturization and complexity of its parts, which is comparable to that of clocks made in the 18th century.
The differential gear arrangement is composed of 30+ gears with teeth formed through equilateral triangles. When past or future dates were entered via a crank (now lost), the mechanism calculated the position of the sun, moon or other astronomical information such as the location of other planets.
The use of differential gears enabled the mechanism to add or subtract angular velocities. The differential was used to compute the synodic lunar cycle by subtracting the effects of the sun's movement from those of the sidereal lunar movement.
It is possible that the mechanism is based on heliocentric principles, rather than the then dominant geocentric view espoused by Aristotle and others. This may indicate that the heliocentric view was more widely accepted at the time than was previously thought.While the Antikythera mechanism was certainly remarkably advanced for its era, it was possibly not unique.
Cicero, writing in the 1st century BC, mentions an instrument "recently constructed by our friend Poseidonius, which at each revolution reproduces the same motions of the sun, the moon and the five planets." (Cicero was himself a student of Poseidonius.)
Similar devices are mentioned in other ancient sources. It also adds support to the idea that there was an ancient Greek tradition of complex mechanical technology which was later transmitted to the Arab world, where similar but simpler devices were built during the medieval period.
The early 9th century Kitab al-Hiyal ("Book of Ingenious Devices"), commissioned by the Caliph of Baghdad, records over a hundred mechanical devices described in Greek texts that had been preserved in monasteries. Such knowledge could have yielded to or been integrated with European clockmaking and ancient cranes.
The device's actual purpose still remains unclear, as we do not know its full range of capabilities. Some investigators believe that the Antikythera mechanism could have been used to track celestial bodies for auspicious occasions such as religious events or births.
Price suggested that it might have been on public display, possibly in a museum or public hall in Rhodes. The island was renowned for its displays of mechanical engineering, particularly automata, which apparently were a speciality of the Rhodians; to quote Pindar's seventh Olympic Ode:
The animated figures stand
Adorning every public street
And seem to breathe in stone, or
move their marble feet.
Investigations and Reconstructions
Price's model, as presented in his "Gears from the Greeks: the Antikythera mechanism - a calendar computer from ca. 80 B.C.", was the first, theoretical, attempt at reconstructing the device. According to that model, the front dial shows the annual progress of the sun and moon through the zodiac against the Egyptian calendar. The upper rear dial displays a four-year period and has associated dials showing the Metonic cycle of 235 synodic months, which approximately equals 19 solar years. The lower rear dial plots the cycle of a single synodic month, with a secondary dial showing the lunar year of 12 synodic months. A British orrery maker named John Gleave, constructed a replica based hereupon, though with some very slight modifications of his, in order for it to be functional. The following link gives an idea of the internals of this device, though later researchers have doubts as to whether Price's model is an accurate representation of the original Antikythera mechanism.
A partial reconstruction was built by Australian computer scientist Allan George Bromley (19472002) of the University of Sydney and Sydney clockmaker Frank Percival. This project led Bromley to review Price's X-ray analysis and to make new, more accurate X-ray images that were studied by Bromley's student, Bernard Gardner, in 1993. His model differed significantly from Price's earlier proposition, though it wasn't considered satisfactory either.
Another reconstruction was made in 2002 by Michael Wright, mechanical engineering curator for The Science Museum in London, working with Allan Bromley. He analyzed the mechanism using linear tomography, which can create images of a narrow focal plane, and thus visualized the gears in great detail. In Wright's reconstruction, the device not only models the motions of the sun and moon, but of all the classical planets.
"Dark Sky Park" Galloway Forest in Scotland
The forest has become the first Dark Sky Park in the UK and the fourth in the world, with the other three in the US.
The award, presented by the International Dark Sky Association (IDA), recognises the quality of the night sky in the area, where light pollution is minimal.
There are few buildings within the park’s perimeter and pitch-black sky at night makes it easy to see distant galaxies such as the Milky Way and Andromeda.
Martin Morgan-Taylor, UK board member for the IDA, said: “Its location is ideally situated for access from Edinburgh, Glasgow, Belfast and northern England, meaning that many people, including children, may have access to a quality night sky, both now and in generations to come.
“Such skies are rapidly disappearing and less than 10 per cent of people in the UK can now see the Milky Way from where they live.”
The other three Dark Sky Parks are at the Natural Bridges National Monument in Utah, the Cherry Springs State Park in Pennsylvania and the Geauga Park in Ohio.
Galloway Forest Park was established in 1947, covers 300 square miles (185,329 acres) and is the largest of its kind in Britain.
Forestry Commission Scotland submitted an application for dark sky status six weeks ago, and the IDA decided it merited the award at its annual general meeting in Phoenix, Arizona, over the weekend.
As part of the selection process, the quality of sky above the park was measured using a sky quality meter.
The darkest reading, such as that in a photographer's darkroom, would be 24, while a likely reading in a major city would be 15 or 16. Galloway Forest Park was rated 23.
While in a city such as Glasgow one would see 500 stars at the most on a good night, above Galloway Forest Park one could expect to see as many as 7,000.
Keith Muir, Forestry Commission Scotland's head of tourism and recreation in Galloway, said: “We have boldly gone where no one in the UK has gone before. I'm so pleased that everyone's support and hard work has paid off.”
Roseanna Cunningham, Scottish environment minister, said: “Understandably all those involved in this innovative project are over the moon and I'm thrilled for them and for Scotland.”
A mysterious 'alien like' creature horrified holidaymakers after it washed up on a beach on the Gower Peninsula in Wales.
The writhing mass of tentacles, which measured at least 6ft from end to end, was described by a zoology expert today as 'like something out of Doctor Who'.
Hundreds of people flocked to Oxwich Beach near Swansea to catch a glimpse of the monster.
But fears of a UFO invasion were put to rest as scientists revealed it was a seething mass of goose barnacles that was swept up from the depths of the ocean by bad weather.The barnacles - long writhing stalks or pendulates, tipped with shells - are normally found deep below the waves, but were washed up clinging to a log.
Professor Paul Brain, of Swansea University, said: 'One child screamed out that it resembled something from Dr Who and I would have to agree with her - it made very bizarre viewing.
'In fact they were probably the biggest specimens of free-floating goose barnacles I've seen.
'The log is about two metres long and as thick as a telegraph pole so I wouldn't be surprised if there were a couple of thousand barnacles on there.'
Holidaymaker Rebecca Porter said the log was like 'a large living sea monster'.
She said: 'The stalk on which the puffin-shaped head sat on was soft and rubbery and moved like a snake.
'They appeared to be attached to a piece of driftwood but it could hardly be seen as it was densely covered with these huge tentacles that opened and closed, thrusting out fronds like uncurling ferns.'
The tentacled creature relies on water motion for feeding - leading to it frequently being washed up on shore.
The barnacle extends its fan-like array of limbs to catch plankton, and attaches itself to surfaces by its stalk - leaving it unable to move from the point it is fixed.
There was also a second barnacle-covered log, measuring around 1ft in length, which washed up alongside the bigger one.
Professor Brain said: 'They tend to live in the oceans and can attach themselves to the bottom of ships.
'It's normally found in quite deep water but occasionally they can be found on debris that has become dislodged from the sea bed and has washed up on the shore.
'I would think the bad weather caused by the jet stream in the past month has probably dislodged these barnacle infested logs from their resting places, giving people a rare look at them for free on the beach.'
Professor Brain added: 'They're actually a delicacy in Spain although I haven't seen any Spanish people trying to chisel them off.
'Back in the old days, people thought barnacle geese hatched from them. A Welsh monk in the 12th century, Giraldus Cambrensis, even claimed to have seen geese hatching from them.'
In Portugal and Spain, the barnacles are a widely consumed and expensive delicacy known as percebes. They have a briny taste and are served steaming hot with their triangular shells still attached.
Fr dailymail
The Naica Mine of Chihuahua, Mexico, is a working mine that is known for its extraordinary crystals. Naica is a lead, zinc and silver mine in which large voids have been found, containing crystals of selenite (gypsum) as large as 4 feet in diameter and 50 feet long. The chamber holding these crystals is known as the Crystal Cave of Giants, and is approximately 1000 feet down in the limestone host rock of the mine. The crystals were formed by hydrothermal fluids emanating from the magma chambers below. The cavern was discovered while the miners were drilling through the Naica fault, which they were worried would flood the mine. The Cave of Swords is another chamber in the Naica Mine, containing similar large crystals.
The Naica mine was first discovered by early prospectors in 1794 south of Chihuahua City. They struck a vein of silver at the base of a range of hills called Naica by the Tarahumara Indians. The origin in the Tarahumara language seems to mean "a shady place". Perhaps here in the small canyon there was a grove of trees tucked away by a small canyon spring.
From that discovery, until around 1900, the primary interest was silver and gold. Around 1900 large-scale mining began as zinc and lead became more valuable.
During the Mexican Revolution the mine was producing a great deal of wealth. Revolutionary troops entered the town and demanded money from the owners. One of them was assassinated when he refused to pay, causing the mine to shut down from 1911 to 1922.
Just before the mine was closed, the famous Cave of Swords was discovered at a depth of 400 feet. Due to the incredible crystals, it was decided to try to preserve this cave. While many of the crystals have been collected, this is still a fascinating cave to visit. In one part there are so many crystals on one of the walls, they appear to be like an underwater reef moving in a gentle undulating motion in an ocean current.
In April 2000, brothers Juan and Pedro Sanchez were drilling a new tunnel when they made a truly spectacular discovery. While Naica miners are accustomed to finding crystals, Juan and Pedro were absolutely amazed by the cavern that they found. The brothers immediately informed the engineer in charge, Roberto Gonzalez. Ing. Gonzalez realized that they had discovered a natural treasure and quickly rerouted the tunnel. During this phase some damage was done as several miners tried to remove pieces of the mega-crystals, so the mining company soon installed an iron door to protect the find. Later, one of the workers, with the intention of stealing crystals, managed to get in through a narrow hole. He tried to take some plastic bags filled with fresh air inside, but the strategy didn't work. He lost consciousness and later was found thoroughly baked.
When entering the cave our group is issued helmets, lanterns, rubber boots, and gloves. One must then be driven by truck into the main mining tunnel called Rampa Sn. Francisco. While the vertical drop is approximately 1000 feet, the drive is almost a half mile long. The heat steadily increases and women have been observed to begin "glowing". The truck stops in front of a concrete wall with a steel door. The intense heat can prevent brain functioning.
At the end of the tunnel there are three or four steps into the aperture of the cavern itself. It is in this short tunnel. In this short distance the temperature and humidity goes from being uncomfortably warm to literally a blast furnace.
Momentarily, the penetrating heat is forgotten as the crystals pop into view on the other side of the "Eye of the Queen". The entire panorama is now lighted and the cavern has a depth and impressive cathedral-like appearance that was not visible on earlier trips with just our headlamps.
When inside the great cathedral of crystals, the pressure of intense heat create a gamut of emotions and perhaps hallucinations. One can only remain for a short period of time.
Geologists report that these natural crystal formations are incredibly complex, yet so simple. They have a magical or metaphysical personality independent of their chemical structures. There is a magma chamber two to three miles below the mountain and that heat from this compressed lava travels through the faults up into the area of the mine. Super heated fluids carry the minerals the miners are seeking as well as form the crystals. The mine is ventilated; otherwise, it could not be worked. Some parts, however, are not air-conditioned, such as the Cave of the Crystals, and there you feel the heat from the magma deep below. The fluids travel along the Naica fault, enter voids in the bedrock, and then form entirely natural structures that are not easily explained scientifically.
In April 2000, the mining company became confident that the water table on the other side of the fault had been lowered sufficiently to drill.
When they did this, it is almost as if a magical veil of reality was breached and an entirely new world was discovered. Two caverns filled with the Earth's largest crystals were immediately revealed. More discoveries are expected to be made in this magical kingdom of intense natural beauty.
Selenite, the gypsum crystal, named after the Greek goddess of the moon, Selene, due to its soft white light, is said to have many metaphysical and healing benefits. Selenite powder has been used cosmetically for thousands of years to enhance one's natural beauty. It is believed that this crystal assists with mental focus, growth, luck, immunity, and soothes the emotions.
