The oxidation is what’s keeping it together, if you clean the oxide off and don’t seal it then it oxidizes again and takes material with it. It’s similar as to why stainless lasts so long.
The issue is you need to recoat sealants every 10-15 years, you only need to chat oxide every 50 to 100 to access damage and most of the damage is on the internal iron structure that the dielectric force is slowly eating at a faster rate then the copper skin.
There was a bunch of news about it around iirc 1980 when they cleaned sections to rebuild the inner scaffold in some areas.
Clean the american grime off (the green copper oxidation) when you get it back
The oxidation is what’s keeping it together, if you clean the oxide off and don’t seal it then it oxidizes again and takes material with it. It’s similar as to why stainless lasts so long.
I would certainly hope some kind of sealant would be used. It would be astounding to see it fully polished and shining in full sunlight.
Probably wont happen in my lifetime though, or likely ever.
The issue is you need to recoat sealants every 10-15 years, you only need to chat oxide every 50 to 100 to access damage and most of the damage is on the internal iron structure that the dielectric force is slowly eating at a faster rate then the copper skin.
There was a bunch of news about it around iirc 1980 when they cleaned sections to rebuild the inner scaffold in some areas.
Oof, yeah that is problematic
The oxidation makes it cool imo
Like a testament to time (which is kinda ironic given the us democracy failed that)