The Statue of Liberty was designed by Frédéric Auguste Bartholdi and its iron framework built by Gustave Eiffel, and it was dedicated in 1886. The idea came from the French historian Édouard de Laboulaye in 1865, who wanted a monument to American democracy and the end of slavery. Its copper skin shows a figure of Libertas holding a torch and a tablet dated July 4, 1776, while a broken chain at her feet recalls abolition after the Civil War. Fundraising in America stalled until Joseph Pulitzer's New York World ran a donation drive. The finished statue was shipped in pieces and assembled on a pedestal the United States had built.

Hampi is a UNESCO World Heritage Site in Karnataka, India, with more than 1,600 surviving remains spread over 4,100 hectares. It was the capital of the Vijayanagara Empire from 1336 to 1565. Travellers from Persia and Portugal described it as a prosperous, wealthy and grand city with temples, markets and farms along the Tungabhadra River. By 1500 it was estimated to be the world's second-largest city after Beijing, and probably India's richest at the time. In 1565 a coalition of Muslim sultanates defeated the Vijayanagara Empire, its capital was conquered and destroyed, and the city was left in ruins. Hampi remains a religious centre, with the active Virupaksha Temple at its heart.