Hundreds gather as US marks 125th anniversary of Statue of Liberty

Hundreds of people took ferries across New York Harbor on a cold but sunny Friday to mark the 125th anniversary of the dedication of the Statue of the Liberty.

Since her arrival from France more than a century ago, the iconic landmark has greeted immigrants seeking a new life in America.

The ceremony in the statue's shadow began with a naturalization ceremony for 125 immigrants from more than 40 countries, who would leave the island as US citizens.

"If you look in the visitors' faces when they come over here you know they got the name right," David Luchsinger, the National Park Service's superintendent of the statue, said in a speech, referring to the statue's proper name: 'Liberty Enlightening the World.'

"It's such a simple and profound statement," he added. "It tells us that every human being on this planet deserves the same rights and freedoms."

US Interior Secretary Ken Salazar said the statue was a reminder that "liberty itself is a work in progress."

He pointed out that unaccompanied women were banned from attending the original dedication ceremony, and were forced to watch from a boat floating a short distance offshore.

"We have come a long way and we celebrate that today," Salazar said, "but we also acknowledge and recognize that we have a long way to go."

The national anthem of both the United States and France were performed, recognizing that the copper-clad statue was a gift from the people of France to the people of America and designed by the French sculptor Frederic Auguste Bartholdi.

Broadway stars, schoolchildren and musicians from the West Point Military Academy performed and actress Sigourney Weaver read the "The New Colossus," the famous sonnet by poet Emma Lazarus that appears on a plaque inside the statue's pedestal.

The interior of the statue will shortly be closed for about a year for renovations, but new webcams in the statue's torch, which were activataed on Friday, will give Internet users a virtual sense of what it is like to ascend the statue.

The ceremony culminated in a gun salute and a flotilla of ships sailing by the island spouting arcs of water.

Amanda Liberty, a 27-year-old from Leeds in England dressed in a stars and stripes jacket, who loves the statue so much she legally changed her name, had flown to New York for the ceremony.

"She stands so tall, so mighty, so proud in the harbor," she said, "Yet she's so peaceful."

(Reporting by Jonathan Allen; Editing by Barbara Goldberg and Greg McCune)