DIA to restore museum's exterior walls this year

DETROIT (AP) — The Detroit Institute of Arts has been awarded two grants from the Michigan Council for Arts and Cultural Affairs, one of which will help pay for restoring the museum’s original exterior walls.

A $48,000 grant is for general operating support and a $100,000 grant is for the work on the 1927 building.

The project will repair mortar joints, fix broken stones and clean the exterior marble and replica Donatello and Michelangelo bronzes that flank the Woodward Avenue entrance.

Director Graham Beal says the walls are “sorely in need of restoration and cleaning.”

Work is set to begin this spring with plans to complete the project by fall.