A behind-the-scenes look at the Michigan Capitol renovations
LANSING, Mich. (CBS DETROIT) - A little under $3 million and months of work have gone into the restoration of the Michigan Capitol Dome.
It's a once-in-a-generation project to keep the state's capitol exquisite.
"Our project went really well. We're very pleased with the way that it turned out," said Barb Thumudo, the assistant director of capitol facilities. "We didn't have any major hiccups if you will. The scaffold went up in August, and we're actually a month ahead of schedule."
The Michigan Capitol is almost always under some kind of construction, but this major restoration of the interior hasn't been done since the 1980s.
"Because of the complicated process of erecting a scaffold like this, with 10,000 individual pieces of scaffolding, 40 tons of weight, this is only going to happen once every 30 to 40 years," Thumudo said.
Michigan's Capitol Dome is pretty extravagant — the painting, decor, and celebration of our state go all the way up to the very top. Even the tippy top, called the oculus of the dome, is adorned with gold leaf stars.
"When we have groups come in, school tours, the first thing they do on a tour is they lay on the glass floor and look up to what you've seen today, and so it would be exciting to maybe lay on the floor with one of those school groups and get their reaction," Thumudo said.
This restoration included removing 30+ years of dirt and dust, cleaning the paintings, and doing some repainting, as well as installing humidity and temperature instruments to help maintain the dome.
"We feel like we're really leaving some excellent documentation for the next group that comes through here in another 40 years, so they'll know exactly what we had to tackle and how we handled it," she said.
