“When the crown remained closed, it might have suggested that those ideals were also closed,” says Erica Doss, a professor of American studies at the University of Notre Dame in South Bend, Ind., and the author of a forthcoming book on post-9/11 memorializing.

“To have her reopen suggests those ideals are being reopened or are being made more operational today,” Professor Doss says.

Yet the festiveness of the crowd, evident in Saturday’s parade of spongy, lime-green crowns, make it hard to believe that the crown nearly was not opened at all. Fire safety concerns about the 123-year-old narrow stairwell, lack of funding for improvements, and a 2004 National Parks Service report that only one-third of Lady Liberty’s estimated 3 million annual visitors braved the ascent induced a kind of apathy about reopening the crown.

Crown lobbyists, including Rep. Anthony Wiener (D) of New York, found a compromise. Only 10 visitors will be allowed to climb at a