On May 15th, 2019, , who donned herself Lady Liberty’s godmother, opened a brand new interactive Statue of Liberty Museum located across Ellis Island. After 2 years of construction and gathering $100 million dollars for the project, this has been labeled as the most monumental addition to Liberty Island since the Statue herself.
The night before the CFDA Awards, Furstenberg hosted a private dinner and tour for her friends at the new museum in celebration of its grand opening. Also in attendance were Fran Lebowitz, Anh Duong, and Steven Kolb, who is President and CEO of the CFDA.
Hillary Clinton, Seth Meyers, Andy Cohen, and Mark Bloomberg were just some of the celebrities that attended the opening. Musical numbers were performed by Tony Bennett and Gloria Estefan.
Furstenberg honored Oprah Winfrey with the Statue of Liberty-Ellis Island Foundation Award for her contributions to the fight for domestic and international freedom.
Diane herself was honored at the Ellis Island Family Heritage Awards in 2015.
The original museum, a cramped space inside of Lady Liberty’s pedestal, curtailed the amount of people who were allowed to visit after 9/11, and only permitted 4,000 people per day.
However, the new museum is able to handle a much greater amount of visitors. The 26,000-square-foot museum has three main areas for viewing. The museum features a film of the history and meaning of Ellis Island, an array of artifacts, photographs and Lady Liberty’s original 3,600 pound torch, which was replaced in 1985 after being up for a century. There is also an interactive electronic station where it’s encouraged for visitors to give their interpretation of “liberty.”