Patience And Fortitude Guard NYPL

Before gaining the names Patience and Fortitude during the Great Depression, the marble lions outside the New York Public Library had guarded its Fifth Avenue entrance since 1911. American sculptor Edward Clark Potter modeled them, and the Piccirilli brothers carved them from pink Tennessee marble. New York City Mayor Fiorello La Guardia chose their names because he believed patience and fortitude were the qualities New Yorkers needed to survive the economic crisis.

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