Time for a Steam: UVA Alumni Help Meticulously Restore Carrara Marble Capitals
The moment had come for Leigh Hassler to remove a painstakingly constructed steam chamber created to surround one of the ornate Carrara marble capitals that adorn UVA’s Pavilion VIII. During the building’s original construction, Thomas Jefferson ordered these capitals from Carrara, Italy – the same source as the recently replaced capitals that front the Rotunda. Hassler and her team were six hours into an intense paint-removal process. A palpable sense of anticipation hung in the air. As the team got down to business, briskly removing the chamber’s box around the capital, steam rose into a crisp, blue fall sky.