I visited the Lady in October 2016 with my New York resident friend Jeffrey. Our tickets allowed us – after two security screenings – to visit the ‘pedestal’, which is surprisingly high up, making for a decent cityscape of the skyscrapers of Manhattan.
I’d like to have visited the crown, but it sells out months in advance. Prior to 1916 the public was actually allowed up to the small balcony that surrounds the torch itself. The original glass torch is now housed at ground level in the pedestal, having been replaced with a more weather-resistant gold-plated torch in the 1980s.
One of the more interesting exhibits in the Statue's museum is a collection of retaining steel brackets, every one of them custom-made to fit the contours of the statue and hold it in place.