A scaled-down replica of the Statue of Liberty, depicting the journey her older sister made more than a century ago between France and the US, was installed Thursday on Ellis Island in New York Harbor.

The 9.3 feet (2.8 meters) replica began its journey from France to the U.S. last week on the back of a truck.

On Thursday, workers carefully unveiled the foil that will protect the statue on its journey across the Atlantic.

The work has been loaned to the U.S. for 10 years by the Museum of Arts and Crafts in Paris to strengthen the Franco-American friendship.

“It is a symbol of the friendship between the French and the American people, but it is also a reminder of the importance of the message of liberty and enlightening the world, which is the name of the statue,” Philippe Étienne, the French ambassador to the United States, said at the unveiling ceremony.

“It is the essential importance of freedom in our democracies, inside our societies and also in the world.”

France donated the largest version of the Statue of Liberty, which stands 305 feet (93 meters) tall including its pedestal, to the United States. It was erected in 1886 and has stood in New York Harbor on Liberty Island ever since.

The 992-pound (450-kilogram) bronze replica, which is based on Frédéric-Auguste Bartholdi’s original plaster model of the Statue of Liberty, will be on display at Ellis Island from July 1 to 6 and then in New York City during the July 4 vacation.

After that, it will move to Washington DC.

“We found it so important to have this meeting between the little and the big sisters, especially on the 4th of July, and then on the 14th of July – which is our national day, Bastille Day – it will be inaugurated again, but in Washington,” Etienne said.