Patience and Fortitude, the pair of lions flanking the entrance to New York Public Library (which Ghostbusters first introduced me to), will be celebrating their one century anniversary, and the library will be celebrating the milestone with a gala. Patience is the one on the south side (the left facing the entrance) and Fortitude is the one on the north side. According to an article in The New York Times the statues, which are 99 years, 11 months, 2 days old today, were not at all well received when they were first arrived at the library's 5th Avenue location. According to the Times, New Yorkers originally hated the statues, calling them "squash-faced, mealy-mouthed, and complacent." One reader wrote in to the editor to flatly declare: "We do not want square-jawed lions."
In case you were wondering, new, the statues cost thirteen thousand dollars each, or about three hundred thousand dollars in today's money.
Source: Flickr
No comments:
Post a Comment