Listeners of the lecture will learn how France and the USA have influenced each other for centuries. At the center of the conversation will be the special connection between France and the USA - a relationship that has developed over more than two and a half centuries and left its mark on the politics, culture, and symbolic language of both countries. One of the key figures for discussion will be Marquis de Lafayette - a young French aristocrat who crossed the ocean to fight for the freedom of the American colonies and became a close ally of George Washington. Through his fate, one can see how the idea of freedom in the 18th century ceased to be an abstraction and turned into an action. No less important part of the conversation will be Alexis de Tocqueville and his book "Democracy in America," born from a journey through the United States. A separate place will be taken by the story of the Statue of Liberty - a symbol without which it is impossible to imagine the United States. The lecture will allow one to see this monument as a result of Franco-American cooperation: from the idea of a French lawyer to the sculptural embodiment by Bartholdi and the engineering solution by Gustave Eiffel. The lecturer is philosopher and historian Tatyana Ilarionova. Ideas on where to go in Moscow are collected on our website.