Bronze statues are all over the place. Keeping them clean appears like quite a challenge! But apparently, bronze statues need only the most basic levels of care in order to look quite presentable. All that’s required is good ol’ soap and water. That is it! Dish soap and warm water. Go figure!

Hard to believe, of course, given the state of your typical bronze sculpture in the parks or on the street. And just why are so many made of bronze in the first place? Well, it turns out that bronze has some traits that make a sculptor’s job that much easier.

They’re strong but not brittle, so that more daring action poses may be used with less visually intrusive supports. They also expand a little right before setting so that a mold is likely to be entirely filled, down to the slightest detail.

Interestingly, the cleaning of iron statues, a less popular but still fairly common kind of sculpture, will probably be much more involved. Rust or peeling paint might need to be removed first. Using sandpaper should suffice, and then it’s on to the soap and water! Stone statues, however, typically require no soap at all except in instances of heaving staining. White marble statues, however, must not come into contact with bleach.

Regular exposure to the chemical will almost undoubtedly damage the marble! Actually, there is nearly never a good reason to use bleach with statuary, besides the fact that it is harmful towards the environment, killing any plant it touches.

Now all this sounds straightforward enough. So why are all of the bronze, iron, and marble statues out there so dirty? In a word, money – or the lack thereof, rather. Local and national parks departments are among the very first to be cut back in an budget shakeup, and regrettably this is an even worse recession than any previous within the past seventy-five years!

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