Issue link: https://www.e-digitaleditions.com/i/884685
Fig. 4. The author inspecting the Statue of Freedom at approximately 288 feet above ground level. 16 Fig. 5. The author is accompanied by Dr. Barbara Wolanin, then Curator for the AOC (now Curator Emerita). critical for the Dome's crowning glory. The tri-annual waxing of the Statue of Free- dom is an important maintenance function intended to prevent ultra-violet rays from degrading the bronze statue. The erection of the scaffolding for this three-year main- tenance cycle also provides an opportunity to inspect and replace the lightning rods that had been damaged in the intervening years. One of the joys during my tenure was the opportunity to climb a narrow scaffold to the top of the statue for these inspec- tions (figs. 4 and 5). The juxtaposition of three very different Capitol Dome designs, one against another at the same scale (fig. 6), provides an excellent visual representation of our nation's growth as it inexorably expanded from the original, tenuously-bound 13 colony/ states, to America's increasing prominence in the world community, growing over time to span the North American continent from the Atlantic to the Pacific. Fig. 3. (left) The Dome in 1960, with scaffolding and newly applied red lead primer THE CAPITOL DOME