VINCENNES, Ind. (AP) - Restoration work is being planned for the seven 28-foot-tall murals at the southwestern Indiana memorial to Revolutionary War figure George Rogers Clark.
A top-to-bottom inspection is expected this year of the oil-on-canvas murals by artist Ezra Winter depicting the story of Clark’s war expeditions that are inside the limestone monument built in the 1930s, said Frank Doughman, superintendent of the George Rogers Clark National Historical Park.
Doughman announced the project Tuesday as a ceremony was held at the memorial marking the 235th anniversary of Clark’s small force capturing the British fort at Vincennes.
The inspection will lead to a plan on what steps are needed to adequately protect the murals, Doughman told the Vincennes Sun-Commercial (https://bit.ly/OCddxT ). That work will likely be done next year.
“We’ll also be doing some re-cocking, some tuckpointing, and we’ll be doing a restoration of the murals inside, something that really hasn’t been done since the 1980s,” he said.
The mural work will follow a multimillion-dollar overhaul that was completed last year of the memorial’s leaking terrace and underground infrastructure and restore the decorative flood wall along the Wabash River.
Mary Risley, a music teacher at Flaget Elementary School in Vincennes, led one of her sixth-grade ensembles in patriotic melodies during Tuesday’s ceremonies.
She said it was important for the children to know about the sacrifices made by soldiers in the country’s history.
“They’ve lived in an age of war,” she said. “But it’s still important for them to understand that there were people sacrificing their lives all those years ago, too.”
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Information from: Vincennes Sun-Commercial, https://www.vincennes.com
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