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| Knut Foppe, left,
Darin Oestmann, center, with the National Park Service and
Thorsten Mowes, right, rappel a scuplture of Thomas
Jefferson's face to begin power washing Mount Rushmore
National Monument, Thursday, July 7, 2005, near Keystone, S.D.
(AP Photo/Doug Dreyer)
| |
After more than 60 years of being exposed to the elements, the
presidents of Mount Rushmore are getting a facial.
Park rangers armed with
hand-held power washers begin rappelling down the faces of George
Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Theodore Roosevelt and Abraham Lincoln on
Saturday to blast away the dirt, grime and lichen that has collected on the granite
surfaces.
Lichen eats away at granite and over time can cause cracks and
pockmarks. If left for long enough, they could eventually cause the
60-foot tall (18 meter) statue to crumble.
"This is the first time the faces have been washed," said Judy Olson,
Mount Rushmore's chief interpreter.
"To the ordinary visitor who comes to Mount Rushmore they probably
won't notice a difference, but the lichen have been growing and invading
the rocks and this high pressure very hot water will get rid of them."
Olson said the National Park Service has been wanting to do something
about the lichen for several years but didn't have the expertise or room
in the budget to hire someone.
Rangers armed with silicon putty check the sculpture for cracks every
fall but were unable to chip away at the black and green lichen that was
spreading across the surface.
Then a German cleaning equipment company offered to foot the bill and
train the rangers.
Alfred Karcher GmbH and Co. has cleaned a number of monuments,
including the Statue of Christ in Rio de Janeiro, the Brandenburg Gate in
Berlin and the Statue of Liberty in New York.
The project is expected to take three to four weeks.
Construction on the South Dakota monument began in 1927 with the face
of George Washington. Designed by Gutzon Borglum, 90 percent of the
500-foot-wide sculpture was carved using dynamite. It was completed in 1941, seven
months after Borglum died.
More than 2 million people visit the monument every year.
(Agencies) |
在經過60多年的風吹日曬之后，美國“總統山”上的總統們要“洗洗臉”了。
上周六（7月9日），裝備有手持電動洗滌器的公園管理員開始沿著總統們的面部自上而下清洗堆積在花崗巖表面的污垢、砂粒和苔蘚。這四位總統分別是：喬治·華盛頓、托馬斯·杰佛遜、西奧多·羅斯福和亞伯拉罕·林肯。
苔蘚會侵蝕花崗巖，而且隨著時間的推移，這些苔蘚會使巖石產生裂縫和凹痕。如果長時間不加清理的話，它們最終會把這座高60英尺（約合18米）的宏偉雕像變成碎片。
“這是這些總統雕像第一次接受面部清洗”，“總統山”的首席講解員朱蒂·奧爾森說。
“來總統山參觀的普通游客可能看不出其中的細微差別，但是苔蘚一直在生長并逐漸侵蝕巖石，而這種高壓高溫的水可以清除它們。”
奧爾森說，數年來國家公園管理局一直都想清理掉這些苔蘚，但是，由于不具備相應的技術，也沒有充足的預算資金來雇用工人，只好作罷。
每年秋天，公園管理員都會用硅膩子檢查雕像的裂縫，卻不能清除掉蔓延覆蓋在總統面部的黑色和綠色苔蘚。
后來，一家德國清洗設備公司表示愿意支付清洗費用，并培訓公園管理員。
阿爾弗雷德凱馳清潔設備股份有限公司曾為世界上許多著名建筑物做過清理，包括巴西里約熱內盧的基督像、德國柏林的勃蘭登堡大門以及美國紐約的自由女神像等。
整個工程預計將耗時3至4個星期。
位于美國南達科他州的“總統山”于1927年動土，首先雕刻的是喬治·華盛頓的頭像。“總統山”是由古特隆·博格勒精心設計的。整座雕像寬約500英尺，90%的雕像都是先用炸藥炸開山峰再進行雕刻而成的。這一工程于1941年完工，但就在完工前7個月，博格勒不幸逝世。
現在，每年前來“總統山”參觀的游客人數超過200萬。
（中國日報網站譯） |
Updated: 2005-07-12 10:24
