After months of work and anticipation, a lofty Capitol tourist attraction has been brought to earth for a five-month cleaning intended to restore its bronze luster.
The seven-ton bronze statue of Armed Freedom, hoisted atop the Capitol dome in 1863 as the Civil War raged across the Potomac River, now rears a mere 19 feet 6 inches above the Capitol Plaza.For the next four or five months, visitors can view it face to face - more or less - for the first time in 130 years while restorers smooth its pitted surface
And maybe after they inspect its sword and shield and screaming eagle helmet they'll stop calling it an Indian, a mistaken impression many took home with them after gazing at the statue's plumes 268 feet above their heads.
Shortly after dawn Sunday morning, a bright-orange, heavy lift helicopter owned by the Erickson Air-Crane Co. of Central Point, Ore., tugged at cables attached to a lifting frame, pulled the statue from its moorings and set it down on a platform of steel girders on the ground below.
"This was quite a normal operation," said pilot Max Evans. "The ground crew does quite a lot of preparations to make this go easily. When that's over, we come and do the easy part."
It was making it look easy that impressed Sen. Mark Hatfield, R-Ore.
"The smoothness and perfection with which it happened was amazing," he said.
"There weren't any hitches," said George White, the architect of the Capitol, who was in overall charge of the job.
Now that the statue is safely on the ground, the work of restoration will get started.
After enduring 13 decades of the worst nature could throw at it, the statue was too badly pitted, cracked and corroded to repair in place.
The aim is to get the make-over done by September for the 200th anniversary of the Capitol building.