The People Who Clean the Ears of Lincoln (And Other Statues)

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National Parks Service worker James Hudson uses a cloth-wrapped pole to clean the ear of the statue at the Lincoln Memorial in 1987.

Gary Hershorn / Getty

Maintenance workers clean a statue in Central Park, in New York City, in 2016.

Anton Vaganov / Reuters

A municipal worker scrubs a statue of the Soviet state founder Vladimir Lenin in Saint Petersburg, Russia, in 2023.

Kyodo / Reuters

A crew carries out the annual cleaning of the 120-meter-tall...