Open to Visitors, Again 8/3/21

The Nittany Lion Shrine is a landmark on the University Park Campus (Main Campus) of The Pennsylvania State University, and for me on the 10 mile path I have biked every other day through campus during the COVID Pandemic. I frequently stop at the Shrine toward the end of my ride and volunteer to take photos for individual and groups of alumni and visitors.

The Lion sculpture was a gift of the 1940 class. Located in the northwest corner of campus, near the Recreation Building and the Nittany Lion Inn, it was dedicated at Homecoming in 1942. Artist Heinz Warneke and stonecutter Joseph Garatti created it from a 13-ton block of Indiana Limestone. When we arrived in 1984, it was on a simple hill of much in a crescent of trees and bushes, illuminated at night by a couple of flood lights. (see top photo from 1989s). In 2013, decorative stone, ramp and step accesses and improved lighting were added as a gift from the class of 2012.

In the mid-1960s, the Lion was vandalized by Syracuse football fans, which led to the tradition of the sculpture being guarded by students during Homecoming. In the late 1970s, the Lion’s right ear was broken off. Heinz Warneke was able to match the stone and repair the damaged ear. The same ear was vandalized and repaired again in 1997. The ear also broke or fell off in the early 2000s and a few years ago. Rumor is that a plaster cast and a computer model have been made of the Lion should it be needed in the future.

Periodically, the Lion or the entire Shrine is surrounded by a chain-linked fence so maintenance can be completed. June of this year was one of those periods when the the Lion was "in jail" or "locked up".