 Among these projects was the "Lion of Belfort", which he started working on in 1871, not finishing the massive sandstone statue until 1880.In 1871, he made his first trip to the United States, where he pitched the idea of a massive statue gifted from the French to the Americans in honor of the centennial of American independence.The idea, which had first been broached to him in 1865 by his friend Édouard René de Laboulaye, resulted in the Statue of Liberty in New York harbor.