Statue Of Liberty Was A Muslim'

The Statue of Liberty was originally designed to be a Muslim woman, the Smithsonian Institution's magazine has claimed.

An article on the government-administered museum's blog, Smart News, claims one of the designers of Lady Liberty drew inspiration from monuments in Egypt and originally intended to construct a veiled female peasant on the Suez Canal.

The article cites historian Barry Moreno, author of multiple books about the statue, whose Islamic origins were also reported last week by The Daily Beast. "Taking the form of a veiled peasant woman, the statue was to stand 86 feet high, and its pedestal was to rise to a height of 48 feet," Moreno writes in "The Statue of Liberty." The design of the project was eventually altered to the Roman colossus who shines the light of liberty from New York harbor today.

(Photo) - Istanbul