RICHARD WALKER / RWALKER@STARBULLETIN.COM Engineers will inspect the state Capitol's bronze state seals this weekend, such as this one over the makai entrance, for signs of weakness.

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State seals at Capitol
will receive safety check

The seals' swaying in high winds
raises structural concerns

State engineers will put up scaffolding this weekend to climb up to check the state seals hanging at the state Capitol.

Suspended by chains, 60 feet above the entrances to the state Capitol, the two state seals, each weighing 7,500 pounds, regularly sway in the breeze.

"When the wind blows, it really sways," says Joan Shinn, the administrative assistant to Rep. Barbara Marumoto, whose fourth-floor office looks down on the seal.

"The first time I saw it happening, I was concerned," Shinn added.

When the winds kicked up two weeks ago, state officials also had some concerns about the bronze seals, which are 15 feet in diameter.

"They will do a structural study. There has been some concerns after the high winds, so we want to go up and take a look at the chains' integrity," said Ralph Morita, with the Department of Accounting and General Services' planning division.

Russ Saito, DAGS director, recalled that one of the lower chains on the mauka seal broke more than a decade ago.

"We will also check the chains to see if any links are weakening," Saito said.

State workers will look at the bolts that anchor the bronze seals as well.

Saito noted that the seals have weathered since the Capitol was built in 1969.

"Some people have said they have concerns about the color. They would prefer to see it a little shinier," Saito said. "But to clean them would be a really tough job. We would have to take them down, and besides, it is supposed to age."

The state's seal was designed in 1895 by Viggo Jacobsen and was based on a modified version of the royal seal of the kingdom of Hawaii.

Jacobsen won the $50 prize for the best design, awarded by the Legislature of the then-Republic of Hawaii, and said that he hoped it would show the old and new Hawaii.

"The irradiated sun is symbolic of the new era which has dawned upon Hawaii with the advent of the Republic, while the fabulous bird Phoenix represents Hawaii nei rising rejuvenated from the ashes of the Monarchy," Jacobsen wrote.

The seal was changed in 1901 when the Legislature ordered the heading of the seal to read "Territory of Hawaii." It was changed again to read "State of Hawaii" in 1959.