The Library‘s Lions: Patience & Fortitude

Keith Glutting: Before you even leave the sidewalk, you are greeted by our two favorite friends, Patience and Fortitude.

Alison Stewart: Behold two icons of the urban jungle. Perched above Fifth Avenue, these 11-foot-long felines have come to symbolize the Library and key attributes of the city. Keith Glutting.

Keith Glutting: Anyone who’s been to New York for the first time and walks down Fifth Avenue tend to recognize our beloved Patience and Fortitude before they even look up and see that they are in front of the library itself.

Alison Stewart: The Library lions were designed by Edward Clark Potter, a sculptor known for his animal subjects, and carved by the renowned Piccirilli Brothers, who were behind many of the most significant marble sculptures in the country.

Not everyone wanted lions.

Theodore Roosevelt thought they should have been bison. Others thought beavers—a call back to John Jacob Astor’s family connection to the beaver pelt trade of the late 18th and early 19th centuries. Just imagine how a pair of beavers might have changed the cityscape!

Patience, to the south, and Fortitude, to the north, have been known by several names. Once informally named Lord Lenox and Lady Astor after the Library’s founders, it wasn’t until the 1930s that they got their current names.

Keith Glutting: What happened was Mayor La Guardia in the Great Depression nicknamed them Patience and Fortitude in one of his addresses to remark to New Yorkers that these are the qualities that are needed for us to get through the tough times, and those names have stuck.

Alison Stewart: Since their 1911 dedication, this pair has embodied the spirit and resilience of the city; they have served as a steadfast source of strength and inspiration. They have also been known to dress—and accessorize—to convey important messages: bearing statements about voting, masking up during the Covid-19 pandemic, holding oversized editions of their favorite books.

These represent what the Library stands for as a key civic institution—promoting the importance of reading, amplifying underrepresented voices, and underscoring equity and access for all.

This pair might be the most famous, but they are just two members of the Library pride. You can find their companions hiding throughout the interior and exterior of the library. Try counting all the lions just on the facade, as well as other creatures and features of the natural world.