Griffins - Philadelphia Museum of Art - Philadelphia, PA
N 39° 57.933 W 075° 10.810
18S E 484613 N 4423949
Look up! Staring down at you from every corner imaginable are griffins..perched ever vigilant, standing sentinel over everyone and everything for the last eighty-five years and they ain't even tired, yet!
Waymark Code: WMHR9M
Location: Pennsylvania, United States
Date Posted: 08/08/2013
Views: 8
Looking up in the east court of the Philadelphia Museum of Art there is a collection of griffins, which were adopted as the symbol of the museum in the 1970's. Once bronze and bronze-looking, every one now wears a green patina. The griffin is the symbol of the Philadelphia Museum of Art, adopted in the 1970's. There are many bronze castings of these critters, alighted on every intersecting angle of the museum's roof, defending visitors and other treasures found within. When looking at the Museum's webpage on the internet, the icon on tab is of a griffin. The Museum's shirts have griffins. They are everywhere...All totaled, I counted twenty-two of this mutant equine beast. What an ugly troop!
Typical of a griffin is this collection of the strange winged creatures. They are legendary creature with the body, tail, and back legs of a lion; the head and wings of an eagle; and an eagle's talons as its front feet. The Museum offers a nice description: The acroteria of the roof are adorned with bronze griffins, seated with one paw outstretched or standing watchfully. This mythological creature, traditionally a guardian of treasure, has served as the symbol of the Museum since the 1970s. SOURCE
Historically speaking, the construction of the Main Building wher the griffins are located began in 1919, when Mayor Thomas B. Smith laid the cornerstone in a Masonic ceremony. Because of shortages caused by World War I and other delays, the new building was not completed until 1928.