SAVANNAH, Ga. () – Savannah’s most iconic landmark, the Forsyth Fountain, is traveling 320 miles via truck to east Alabama for its first complete restoration in nearly 40 years.

Savannah officials are calling the project “preventative maintenance” to keep the nearly 150-year-old monument operational and beautiful.

It is now in the hands of restoration company Robinson Iron Corporation based out of Alexander City, Ala.

Robinson Iron previously restored the fountain in 1988.

“We’re taking it off piece by piece,” said Robinson Iron engineer Luke Robinson. “A lot of people don’t know this fountain comes together a lot like Legos, very big, very heavy Legos, and the statuary comes out first and then the bowl right beneath her and the stem.”

When the parts arrive at Robinson Iron they will be inspected by engineers.

“All of those pieces will come apart. We will sandblast all of these pieces down to bare metal, and we will then make a judgment to see which pieces can be reused,” said Robinson. “If any of them need to be recast we will recast them. We have the capability to create a pattern for it. Then we’ll replace those pieces as needed or repair what can be.”

Replumbing, recasting and repainting are the main fixtures.

The paint job is especially tedious, as years of layered paint have made the fountain appear deteriorated according to engineers.

“The fountain is so gorgeous, but it has layers and years of paint on it, so we need to get those off,” said Robinson. “As you continue to put paint on it, it begins to fill in those cracks that really give it the third dimension, So the goal will be to get all of that off and make it look like it was originally intended to.

Crews should finish up the dismantling and loading in Savannah within two days.

The restoration itself should last until the fall.