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A week after Rockefeller Center's iconic statues were dressed up with face masks, two more NYC monuments are donning face coverings.
The New York Public Library has added giant blue face masks to the beloved stone lions, Patience and Fortitude, that guard the Stephen A. Schwarzman Building on Fifth Avenue and 42nd Street.
The masks are three feet wide and two feet tall and made with non-eroding material to ensure that they cannot damage the marble. They're meant to remind New Yorkers to keep their masks on as the library reopens a limited number of branches starting July 13, the NYPL says. Masks will be required to pick up or drop off materials when the library reopens.
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"Patience and Fortitude are the perfect symbols for the strengths our City and our nation need now even more," said New York Public Library President Anthony W. Marx. "Like them, New Yorkers are strong and resilient and can weather any storm. We will get to the other side of this public health crisis together. But to do so, we must remain vigilant, we must have patience and fortitude, and we must follow what experts tell us, especially as we continue to reopen our cities. The lions, protectors of knowledge and truth who have seen 109 years worth of history, are setting that example."
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