When the the Statue of Liberty was given to the United States of America by the French people in 1886, it was officially called „Liberty enlightening the world!“ After the terrifying events of last week that very obviously tried to darken (eclipse) the free world people asked themselves, why France, why Paris?

I guess we tend to forget that after all France still represents the ultimate power of enlightenment, the secular stronghold of the free. No Burqas.

When I took the picture of Lady Liberty back in 1989 the World Trade Center was of course still standing. The picture was taken from the South tower platform. That afternoon nobody was using the tower telescope so I tried it as an additional lens and through it did this picture.

The torch. The ultimate symbol of the free.

Irretrievable.