A monumental sprucing-up job

In preparation for Gay and Lesbian Pride Week, workers with the Parks and Recreation Departments’ Citywide Monuments Conservation Program preserved the “Gay Liberation” monument by George Segal in Christopher Park last Friday. The program staff and interns cleaned the statues and reapplied a specially formulated white-pigmented wax to the surface of the bronze figures. The monument, installed in 1992, is across the street from the Stonewall Inn, site of the 1969 police raid and uprising credited with launching the American gay rights movement. Program conservators and apprentices also did maintenance on the statue of Sheridan, namesake of the square. The statue of Sheridan by Joseph Pollia was installed in 1936 and conserved in 1999 by the Monuments Program with support from the Sons of Union Veterans. Last Friday, the sculpture was cleaned and its protective coatings renewed.