One of Bath’s most visible historical art pieces returned to Library Park last week.

Construction crews placed “The Spirit of the Sea” statue back in its place in the Library Park fountain on Wednesday. The statue was removed from its perch last fall when the foundation failed, and “The Spirit of the Sea” was moved into storage.

The repairs cost approximately $113,575, according to Steve Balboni, director of Bath Parks, Recreation and Cemeteries.

“Now we know she sits on a solid foundation,” Balboni said. “We left the old pilings in there and went around them just so we know that the base is that much more secure.”

The South Portland-based H.B. Fleming Inc. installed the pilings for the new foundation under the fountain at Library Park, with the work on the pilings completed on Monday, July 21, according to Dean Sciaraffa, former owner of H.B. Fleming, who worked as a contractor on the project.

After the installation of the statue, some concrete and structural liner repairs could stretch on for another month, Balboni said. The new foundation for the fountain required drilling new pilings into the bedrock, which was approximately 40 feet below ground level.

“I am very happy to see her back because it seems like the park hasn’t been the same without her here,” said Thankful Butler, a member of the Bath Garden Club.

“The Spirit of the Sea” was installed in Library Park in the early 1960s. It was sculpted by William Zorach, who was born in Lithuania in the late 1800s and later moved to Ohio and New York City. The Bath Garden Club commissioned Zorach in 1959, and the statue was later restored by the Friends of the Zorach Foundation and the Bath Garden Club in 2005.

Zorach called the statue “The Spirit of the Sea” in respect to Bath’s maritime and shipbuilding past, according to his autobiography “Art is my Life.”