<P> July 3--6, 1986, was designated "Liberty Weekend", marking the centennial of the statue and its reopening . President Reagan presided over the rededication, with French President François Mitterrand in attendance . July 4 saw a reprise of Operation Sail, and the statue was reopened to the public on July 5 . In Reagan's dedication speech, he stated, "We are the keepers of the flame of liberty; we hold it high for the world to see ." </P> <P> Following the September 11 attacks, the statue and Liberty Island were immediately closed to the public . The island reopened at the end of 2001, while the pedestal and statue remained off - limits . The pedestal reopened in August 2004, but the National Park Service announced that visitors could not safely be given access to the statue due to the difficulty of evacuation in an emergency . The Park Service adhered to that position through the remainder of the Bush administration . New York Congressman Anthony Weiner made the statue's reopening a personal crusade . On May 17, 2009, President Barack Obama's Secretary of the Interior, Ken Salazar, announced that as a "special gift" to America, the statue would be reopened to the public as of July 4, but that only a limited number of people would be permitted to ascend to the crown each day . </P> <P> The statue, including the pedestal and base, closed on October 29, 2011, for installation of new elevators and staircases and to bring other facilities, such as restrooms, up to code . The statue was reopened on October 28, 2012, only to close again a day later due to Hurricane Sandy . Although the storm did not harm the statue, it destroyed some of the infrastructure on both Liberty Island and Ellis Island, severely damaging the dock used by the ferries bearing visitors to the statue . On November 8, 2012, a Park Service spokesperson announced that both islands would remain closed for an indefinite period for repairs to be done . Due to lack of electricity on Liberty Island, a generator was installed to power temporary floodlights to illuminate the statue at night . The superintendent of Statue of Liberty National Monument, David Luchsinger, whose home on the island was severely damaged, stated that it would be "optimistically...months" before the island was reopened to the public . The statue and Liberty Island reopened to the public on July 4, 2013 . Ellis Island remained closed for repairs for several more months but reopened in late October 2013 . For part of October 2013, Liberty Island was closed to the public due to the United States federal government shutdown of 2013, along with other federally funded museums, parks, monuments, construction projects and buildings . </P> <P> On October 7, 2016, construction started on a new Statue of Liberty museum on Liberty Island . The new $70 million, 26,000 - square - foot (2,400 m) museum will be able to accommodate all of the island's visitors when it opens in 2019, as opposed to the current museum, which only 20% of the island's visitors can visit . The original torch will be relocated here, and in addition to exhibits relating to the statue's construction and history, there will be a theater where visitors can watch an aerial view of the statue . The museum, designed by FXFOWLE Architects, will integrate with the parkland around it . It is being funded privately by Diane von Fürstenberg, Michael Bloomberg, Jeff Bezos, Coca - Cola, NBCUniversal, the family of Laurence Tisch and Preston Robert Tisch, Mellody Hobson, and George Lucas . Von Fürstenberg heads the fundraising for the museum, and the project had garnered more than $40 million in fundraising as of groundbreaking . </P>

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