The flickr set. And each pic links to flickr so you can view larger sizes.

The Journal Star had an article on the restoration today. You can also watch a video. Legislative employees were offered the chance to view the work and I jumped at the chance.

The chamber is huge. All the desks were covered in wood, carpet covered in plastic, and an amazing scaffolding fills the chamber. It created a floor 40 feet up so the restoration of the wood ceiling could be done. The scaffolding was not anchored to the walls so it swayed from the people on it. It was quite a strange feeling.

lots more below

We entered through the 3rd floor door where people can sit in the balcony.

there was so much scaffolding and many layers of levels for workers to use.

A look down at the covered desks and you can see the chandeliers that were lowered.

The temp floor was about 7 foot tall in some areas and you had to really duck or crawl under some of the big sections.

They left a section uncleaned so you could see the contrast.

they did not vacuum this spot so you could see how bad it was.

They are just cleaning with a very mild PH neutral cleaner and multiple wipes with clean water to not hurt the varnish covered wood. You can see the difference in this pic well.

They are trying to use as little water as possible. Cleaning of the limestone and tiles is done with a latex based coating they apply, let dry, and then peel off. Here are some pieces that have been peeled.

I asked about the gold (23 Karrat) and how it was applied cuz it looked like paint. He showed us a piece of the paper they used to transfer the designs to the wood. The paper was drawn on, then perforated, then a graphite bag was patted on the lines to transfer the outline. Then an adhesive was painted on and allowed to get to the still tacky stage which would let the goild foil stick. If you looked really close you could see the overlapping of some pieces.

That pattern above made this part. It looks like it is smiling

Water damage over the years is noticeable. This was cleaned and the restorers will try to get it looking right later.

It was really neat to see it up close.