Cleanup Of William Penn Statue Complete
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- The William Penn statue on top of City Hall will soon emerge from scaffolding.
A two-month, $278,000 spruce-up is complete and the statue should be fully visible again before the month is over.
William Penn is better than fine after his every-ten-years makeover. Public Art director Margot Berg says six-to-seven people worked on him daily.
It begins with a good scrubbing in 1200 gallons of de-ionized water and bronze statue detergent.
Then the painstaking work begins.
"They inspect it all over, centimeter by centimeter by centimeter, for all the areas where corrosion has arisen," Berg explained.
Each corroded area was lazed, including in the tiny pits that have opened from the hundred years before the regular conservation work started in 1988.
Then, inch by inch, the statue was heated with a torch and wax was applied, "to protect from the wind and pollutants," said Berg.
So, Billy is now good to go, until 2027.