$277 million to save the Statue of Liberty from rusting!
In an April 11, 2015 The Times article, it was noted that $277 million was spent trying to remove the rust. It doesn’t matter how you look at it. $277 million is a lot of money; I wonder how and why an all-American (albeit French) icon was allowed to enter that status in the first place.
My first question is why was rust allowed to build and tear down such an iconic structure to the point where it cost as much as $277 million to renovate?
He had cracks in his left eye, on his lip, on his nose and on his chin, he had a big stain on the front of his neck, almost like slime. She had rusty snot,’ wrote Jonathan Waldram in his book ‘Rust: The Longest War’.
A sorry state indeed for America’s First Lady, especially since its construction in the 19th century was such an epic undertaking in the first place.
large scale construction
Just to hold the 46m tall statue upright requires a pedestal the height of a 30-story office block. It was (and perhaps still is) the largest concrete structure in the world. More than 240 men worked through a grueling winter to complete it. The unusual shape makes safety scaffolding impossible, which is why the construction was both difficult and dangerous. 300 copper pieces with more than 300,000 rivets were attached to the skeleton; her dresses consist of more than 3,360 square meters of copper. His outstretched arm measures 40 feet and a single fingernail weighs more than three pounds.
The thoroughbred, sweat, and (perhaps) tears that went into the build make me wonder why a cleanup and restoration regimen wasn’t put in place from the start. I guess this was not high on the list of priorities of its creators. The statue has been the subject of several renovation projects over the years, the most recent of which was in 2013.
What should be done in the future to preserve such an important American icon?
I’m not American so maybe I shouldn’t care! On the other hand, I can’t help but think that this could have been prevented by some kind of rust control or inspection program. In reading up on the subject, there have been some claims that layers upon layers of paint helped hide the corrosion. Not to mention the plethora of structural problems that have plagued it since it was erected in the late 1880s.
I hope the Statue of Liberty now receives the care and façade maintenance it needs to live another 100 years and beyond.