Statue of Liberty the decade. The Liberty statue project was not the only such undertaking that had difficulty raising money: construction of the obelisk later known as the Washington Monument sometimes stalled for years; it would ultimately take over three-and-a-half decades to complete. There was criticism both of Bartholdi's statue and of the fact that the gift required Americans to foot the bill for the pedestal. In the years following the Civil War, most Americans preferred realistic artworks depicting heroes and events from the nation's history, rather than allegorical works like the Liberty statue. There was also a feeling that Americans should design
Conservation-restoration of the Statue of Liberty only for several days at a time at most. The restoration would not begin until January 23, 1984. An article from "The New York Times" published the day after, indicated that the 30-month project had officially begun the day before, and that visitors would have approximately two weeks remaining before the statue would be completely enshrouded by the tons of extruded aluminum scaffolding that had just been deposited on Liberty Island. The scaffolding contract was awarded to a company called Universal Builders Supply (UBS) Inc. on December 14, 1983. The contract stipulated that the freestanding exterior scaffold was to be