(Host) This weekend, visitors to the Statue of Liberty will once again be allowed to climb up to the monument’s glassed-in crown. It’s been off limits since the September 11th terrorist attacks.
U.S. park officials say safety and security issues have been addressed and 50,000 people – ten at a time – will get to visit the crown over the next two years. Then, it will be closed again for renovation.
Renovations to the statue are nothing new. Twenty-five years ago, Lady Liberty underwent a major facelift to protect her copper skin and strengthen her underlying frame.
VPR’s Nina Keck spoke to the man who led that project.
(Keck) Blaine Cliver settled in Brandon when he retired six years ago. Before that he worked as an architect. But his focus wasn’t so much about building new buildings as taking care of old ones. Working privately as well as for the National Park Service, he helped restore the royal Iolani palace in Hawaii, the historic Spanish forts in Puerto Rico and Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s home in Hyde Park. But his most famous project was heading up the restoration of the Statue of Liberty in the 1980s.
(Cliver) "I’ve been up and down inside and outside the statue many, many times. But still it’s something that provides some awe. It’s also very interesting the way it’s built and put together. I think also, you begin to appreciate what those people in France, who conceived the idea, were doing and how much effort went into making the statue. And it was really a grand gesture that maybe nobody but the French could do."
(Keck) France gave the Statue of Liberty to the United States as a birthday present in 1876 in honor of our centennial. Made of copper and supported by an iron framework, the statue has weathered well. But by the late 1970s, Blaine Cliver says water damage had taken a toll.
(Cliver) "The torch showed the first signs of deterioration on the statue. And it was water that had collected and this water would come down inside the torch and eventually down the arm and into the rest of the statue. So this became the focus of the work that was done to restore the statue."
(Keck) The torch, which was made of 250 pieces of welded glass, leaked says Cliver. So, they replaced it with a new torch made of solid copper and gilded with gold leaf. The next step involved peeling back the statue’s copper outerlayer and replacing the rusted iron framework beneath. Cliver says the renovations to the statue and surrounding island took over two years and cost over 60 million dollars. He says private donations paid for the project, which he admits was one of the most stressful he’s overseen.
(Cliver) "I’ll admit there’s some pride because it has turned out quite well. My daughter lives in Brooklyn in a converted warehouse right on the water – and you go on the roof and you can look across and there’s the statue of liberty. You can never get away from it.
(Keck) Millions of people visit the statue of Liberty every year but the numbers declined after 2001. Park service officials hope re-opening the crown area this weekend will help turn that around.
For VPR News, I’m Nina Keck in Brandon.