Surprise Rodin bronze part of $2M restoration for New York lighthouse honoring French explorer
By APSunday, May 10, 2009
Restored NY lighthouse features surprise Rodin
CROWN POINT, N.Y. — More than 10,000 campgrounds dot the American landscape. But only at the state-run campground in remote Crown Point can you find a Rodin sculpture just steps away from campers pitching tents and grilling burgers.
A bronze plaque created by Auguste Rodin (ah-GOOST’ roh-DAHN’) a century ago will soon be returned to its place on the Champlain Memorial Lighthouse. The lighthouse is slated to reopen this spring after a more than $2 million restoration project that included conserving the French sculptor’s “La France.”
The bust depicting a woman was donated by the French government in 1912. The plaque was removed last year when crews began cleaning the memorial to French explorer Samuel de Champlain.
Crown Point is 95 miles north of Albany.
