This Week in H’burg is a weekly column featuring photos and fun facts from local photographer Pierre Ratté. Each week we’ll feature a new photo from Ratté along with a fact about the subject matter of the photo.
Patience and Fortitude are names Fiorello La Guardia gave to two sculpted lions which guard the entry stairs to the New York City Public Library. Mayor La Guardia felt these names reflected the characteristics of New Yorkers in the 1930’s, and were qualities people needed to see their way through the Great Depression. The lions in NY were carved from pink Tennessee marble, and installed for the library’s opening in 1911. The library is built on the site of a former reservoir serving New York City in the 1800’s. For that reason, the book stacks are underground, not just under the building but under adjacent Bryant Park. Looking at the above-ground structure, one would not guess that the library houses 75 miles of shelves, and one of the largest collections of books in the world. Esteemed by literary lions, Patience and Fortitude seem like apt qualities for our time. I wonder what these Healdsburg lions are saying to each other?
Pierre Ratté posts a daily picture on Instagram, Facebook and TodayinHburg.com. He can be reached at [email protected]. His book “100 Days Sheltering-In-Place” can be purchased at Levin’s and Copperfield’s bookstores, TodayinHburg.com or Amazon.com.
