Barry Moreno

The Statue of Liberty, a symbol of democracy and freedom that has greeted countless immigrants to the shores of America was inspired by a project representing an Arab woman guarding the Suez Canal according to a recent research.

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.