Which lion is patience

You are commenting using your Twitter account. You are commenting using your Facebook account. Notify me of new comments via email. Notify me of new posts via email. Snapshot Serengeti. Create a free website or blog at WordPress. Subscribe to RSS. December 28, by packer in Field Work , Research 2 Comments. Lions: Lazy or just very, very patient? Share this: Twitter Facebook Tumblr. Like this: Like Loading Next post ».

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Name required. Search for:. Welcome This is the blog of Snapshot Serengeti from the Zooniverse. Help researchers by going on a virtual safari in Tanzania. Whether it be top hat and tails or evening gowns and jewels, the lions perched proudly despite the indignity of having to wear such silly outfits.

It was all in good fun. This became a tradition, particularly around World Series time each year, as New Yorkers have always taken their baseball seriously.

Any Red Sox fans who would dare to co-op the lions for their team would be dealt with in New York Style. Mayor Fiorella LaGuardia, having won the New York mayoral election in had his hands full with many tasks in his new position.

He had to clean up the street crime, deal with the banking industry, and worry about the stock market. It was a political high wire act for a mayor in a society that feared the ever growing juxtaposition between the extravagantly wealthy and those living in crippling poverty.

As Mayor, LaGuardia officially renamed the pair of library lions, Patience and Fortitude, which was just what the city needed, as it was still struggling to recover from the stock market crash and massive unemployment. One of the major hurdles the mayor had to contend with was the image of Italian immigrants. Depicted in films and literature as notorious gangsters, he set out to show the positive side of Italian-American culture.

The fact that he named the two gorgeous stone lions that were crafted by a family of immigrant workers just emphasized his point. Italian-American immigrants were and still are known as excellent stone masons and construction contractors. The Piccirilli family and other such artisans helped make New York what it is today.

The city has changed so much since the lions have been placed on their pedestals, but the statues have remained the same—almost.

By the year , Patience and Fortitude were showing considerable signs of wear so in , a major restoration project was undertaken by the city to make sure these beautiful sculptures last many more lifetimes. This ban on costuming Patience and Fortitude was much to the chagrin of many New Yorkers who liked to see what the handsome duo would be wearing, particularity at Christmas when they were swaddled with decorative holiday wreaths.

No longer dressed up in sports gear, graduation caps or other frills, the lions remain as nature intended. The lions do not need adornment. In their mighty bare essence, they still serve as a reminder that no matter how small and insignificant a person may feel, they could still be welcomed by these stone kings of the jungle to get their fill of knowledge. The New York Public Library bookend lions, Patience flanking the south end and Fortitude the north, have lasted through wars, disruptions, protests, crime waves, economic prosperity and crippling despair.

Patience and Fortitude are symbols of everything New York and its people stand for—they are fearless, yet humble in their beauty. Edward Clark Potter could have posed them differently. They could be stalking, or roaring, but no, they are just waiting. Waiting for the next person with a curious mind to pass by, there where 42nd Street meets 5th Avenue.