Rocky Balboa’s fighting days are long behind him, but he still occasionally needs a tune up.
The battles against time and the elements are starting to show and, if left unpolished, the champ might not make it to the next bell.
Obviously, as a movie icon, Rocky the character will never die. The Rocky Statue outside the Philadelphia Museum of Art needs some occasional TLC to keep it fighting fit though.
The bronze likeness of Sylvester Stallone as the “Italian Stallion” will undergo routine conservation maintenance on May 7 and 8. Public art conservators from Heritage Conservation Collective will do the work.
“Regular cleaning and waxing protects Rocky from weather-related damage and deterioration and helps preserve it for generations to come,” said Marguerite Anglin, Public Art Director of the Office of Arts, Culture and the Creative Economy.
The statue was last cleaned in 2023, Anglin said. Bronze statues like it typically receive maintenance treatments every three-five years.
Marco Federico, principle conservator for Heritage Conservation Collective, wrote in an email that the process first involves a light surface cleaning to remove excess grime and sticker residue. This prepares the surface for any areas that need spot panination, the evening out of the color to match the rest of the statue. Finally, a protective wax coating is applied.
During the conservation days, temporary barriers will block access to the statue from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. Visitors will still be able to see the statue while the work is in progress, but they can’t get close to it. Federico said that the statue still gets onlookers and photo-takers while the conservators are working. While no tourist has ever asked to help, yet, they still have queries.
“We are prepared to answer questions, but we treat it like we treat any other sculptural bronze, with care and caution,” he wrote. “We are using an open flame to apply the wax, so we hope people can hold their questions to the end.”
In 1980, Stallone commissioned Thomas Schomberg to create the statue for a scene in 1982’s “Rocky III” (featuring Mr. T’s Clubber Lang, if that’s how you keep track of them). After the film, Stallone gifted the artwork to the city.
Since it’s various placements around the museum for the scene, the statue was moved to the Spectrum Sports Complex and then back beside the museum, next to the iconic 72 steps that so many people race up, likely humming along to Bill Conti’s “Gonna Fly Now” while they run.
An estimated 4 million people visit the Rocky Statue every year, which is more than twice the amount that check out the Liberty Bell.
Stallone last revisited his younger likeness on Dec. 3 to receive a key to the City and help celebrate the inaugural ‘Rocky Day,’ 47 years after the U.S. premiere of the original “Rocky.”
A quintessential stop in Philly to some, an over-glorified movie prop to others, an extensive history of the Rocky Statue and its long, twisty path to becoming one of Philly’s tourism hotspots is available on WHYY’s “The Statue” podcast.
Federico said he understood the divisiveness around the Rocky Statue, adding that “sometimes the artistic value of a piece can be trumped by the cultural value, what a sculpture means to a place, a city, a street corner or public park.”
“We might not all agree on what constitutes as ‘good art,’ and that’s totally fine,” he wrote. “It’s not my job to convince people. It is my job to make sure it’s properly-maintained for future generations to admire or admonish.”
