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In 1915 the citizens of Calgary
needed to build a bridge to cross the Bow River to replace the condemned toll
bridge on the north end of Centre Street. They decided that the new structure
should say something about the pride that they felt in their new city so they
decided to embellish the bridge with four statues of lions, two on either end of
the structure.
Those
statues have stood proudly as a testament to those citizens’ faith in the
future of their city. Unfortunately 83 years of harsh Calgary winters took their
toll on the lions as well as the bridge so in 1999 the City of Calgary undertook
a complete rebuild of the bridge. That rebuild included restoring the
lions.
The
Lions had originally been designed as copies of the bronze Lion Statue at the
base of the monument to Lord Nelson in Trafalgar Square. When the restorers
examined the statues they found that they had originally been cast in four
pieces and assembled on site. The restorers decided that too much had happened
to the 1916 castings to bring them completely back to their original glory so
they struck upon a unique plan to replicate the Lions. They removed one of the
1916 lions from the bridge, took it to their shop and restored it back to its
original lines. From that lion they took a negative mould and removed the 1916
lion from inside. They then used Target SC100 D to spray on to the inside of the
mold. A steel web was anchored to the first layer of SC100 D and more material
was sprayed on to encapsulate the steel. After the SC100 D had set, the mold was
removed and “Voila” a perfect recreation of the work done by the original
sculpture 83 years ago.
Obviously
the process was repeated 3 more time to make a total of 4 Lion Statues to grace
the newly restored structure of the bridge. The Lions were then transported back
to the bridge and replaced in the original positions.
When
asked why he had chosen the Target SC100 D, Brian Hunter of Concrete
Restorations Ltd. said that it was a material that could be sprayed in the very
confined space inside the molds and stick without being accelerated thereby
giving the artists more time to work. In addition it provided a very durable and
dense concrete to assure extended life for the new lions in the harsh Calgary
climate.
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