[A]n iconic statue depicting the goddess of agriculture was lifted off the Vermont Statehouse Monday morning, kicking off a $2 million restoration of the building’s golden dome.
The statue is now being evaluated at a storage facility, after which the Vermont Historical Society will work to preserve and display it.
“It will only be problematic if she’s a bit too tall,” said David Schütz, the state curator, who oversees the ongoing care of the Statehouse and its art. The statue will only fit in the History Museum if it measures below its estimated 14-foot height. “We’re kind of hoping that when she gets down here she’ll be smaller.”
The first statue, a carving designed by fine art sculptor Larkin Mead, was replaced with the current one in 1938, when 83-year-old Sergeant-at-Arms Dwight Dwinell offered to carve a new model out of pine wood.
Schütz said the 1938 version is “a piece of folk art” compared to the first. Dwinell carved the statue’s head while others worked on the body. “As a result, we have a fairly crude version of what the original looked like.”
The state has commissioned a third statue. Schütz said the request for proposals specifies that the new one more closely resemble the initial work by Larkin Mead. But, he said, the new sculpture will still be made of wood.
The replacement is part of a major restoration project to the building’s golden dome. From late May through November, crews will replace the dome’s gold leaf coating and repaint the drum. (This round structure beneath the dome is entirely made of wood, Schütz said, but it was initially painted with gray sand paint to mimic the look of granite.)
The full restoration is expected to cost $2 million.
Crews arrived at the Statehouse at 7 a.m. Monday and worked for the next three hours to prepare the statue. One crane held a cage that allowed two workers to wrap the statue in straps. Workers attached the straps to a second crane, which lifted the statue off of its pedestal and lowered it to the parking lot beside the Senate chamber.
There, Schütz and others examined the base of the statue. As Gov. Phil Scott looked on from the crowd, the statue was tilted onto its back and lowered onto a nearby flatbed truck.
Schütz said he hopes the new statue will be finished and ready to mount by the time the rest of the work is done in November. “That’ll be the crowning touch.”
