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Philadelphia Completes Groundbreaking Restoration
of Alexander Milne Calder Sculptures Atop City Hall
The City of Philadelphia announced at a recent press conference,
the completion of a groundbreaking laser conservation project
to enhance and preserve Alexander Milne Calder’s eight
monumental bronze sculptures on City Hall’s tower. For
the first time since their installation, they were cleaned
and treated to resist the attack of environmental pollutants
and restored to ensure structural stability.
The City also announced plans to illuminate the sculptures
with a new, long lasting lens system, expected to be completed
in the spring.
In 2005, the Chicago based Conservation of Sculptures &
objects Studio, Inc. began work on the colossal structures
using state-of-the-art laser technology never before applied
in the United States on anything of this scale. Workers cleaned
and treated the interiors of hollow pieces, and removed the
corrosion and encrusted substances from the outside, must
of which likely dated back to the first decades of exposure
to the coal that fired nearby locomotives. The bronzes were
then recoated with a protective sealant to safeguard against
potential damage.
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