You know it’s too late for your civil liberties when they’ve gone and put the Statue of Freedom in a cage. And you thought all those people worried about the PATRIOT Act were alarmists.
If you haven’t glanced at the top of the Capitol lately, take a gander. Over the past week, workers have constructed scaffolding around the Statue of Freedom—the 19 ½ foot bronze sculpture atop the Capitol Dome—not in preparation for her trip to Guantánamo, but for her biennial restoration. Every two years, the Architect of the Capitol sends a team of workers to clean the statue, replace the caulk between the statue’s sections, waterproof the surface, repaint the base, replace the lightning rods on her crown and shoulders, and apply a protective lacquer to prevent corrosion and otherwise keep the elements at bay.
Freedom was sculpted by Thomas Crawford in Italy, and the plaster pieces arrived in Washington between 1857 and 1859. Bronze casting began in 1860, was halted in 1861 for the Civil War, and finally finished in 1862. Construction on the dome hadn’t advanced to a point where the statue could be safely placed on top, where it was assembled piece by piece in 1863. The statue’s head and shoulders were installed on December 2, 1863 to a 35 gun salute and cannon blasts from the forts around Washington, an event that would undoubtedly cause chaos if it were repeated today. The statue was removed from the Dome in 1993 for a wholesale restoration, necessitating a dramatic operation with a helicopter.
Work on Freedom will continue until at least July 31, after which maintenance teams will begin the annual inspection and resealing of the Dome itself to make sure it remains watertight. This will take about four weeks, during which passers-by will see workers rappelling on safety lines down the side of the Dome. Consider telling tourists they are Canadian ninjas who attempt an assault on the Capitol every few months, but are caught by Capitol police as soon as they get to the bottom of their ropes. Or, perhaps, that David Blaine is planning to turn the statue into a corndog. Oh, the Overheards that could follow…
Photo from the Architect of the Capitol’s website
