Pillar before restoration

The Museum's richly coloured interiors and exquisite details had been effaced, and a yellowing off-white paint had brushed away the gold gilding, the refined design details and with it the vision and the intentions of its founding fathers. Research revealed the intention was to gild as much of the building as possible but as with the restoration project, the building committee in the 1860s suffered from a similar dearth of funds. So, the decision to limit the amount of gilding was made.