The marble lions, Patience and Fortitude, flanking the entrance to The New York Public Library's Stephen A. Schwarzman Building are familiar and beloved icons for New Yorkers and visitors to the city.  They were modeled by sculptor Edward Clark Potter and carved from pink Tennessee marble by the Piccirilli brothers in 1911, the same year the Carrère and Hastings Beaux-Arts building opened to the public. The Lions' best-known nicknames, Patience and Fortitude, are credited to Mayor Fiorello LaGuardia, who told a reporter, ''The people of this city have two cardinal virtues, Patience and Fortitude.''

These iconic lions can now make their home in your library.