Buff and shine: Iconic Philadelphia Rocky statue gets facelift from routine cleaning
PHILADELPHIA - Rocky is the gold standard of Philadelphia icons, but these days he's looking more bronze.
That's because workers spent the last two days cleaning and polishing his statue outside the Philadelphia Museum of Art.
A team of professional public art conservators from the Heritage Conservation Collective undertook the job of washing and waxing the statue.
Experts say visitors interacting with the statue caused it to tarnish, turning Rocky's boots a dull brass color and adding discoloration to his midsection.
"People interacting with the piece as much as they have, they turned this lower section into a bright brass, they moved off the patina, and discolored some of the midsection of the body, and then the upper body oxidized from weather conditions and tu
Doug Martins said the statue was in "tough shape" from both human interaction and weather, which he said caused the statue to appear greenish from oxidization.
The Rocky statue was created by artist A. Thomas Schomberg in 1980, and gifted to the city by Sylvester Stallone following the success of the classic boxing series.
City officials said the statue "receives periodic maintenance to protect the appearance and longevity of the bronze surface."