If recently downtown Chicago did you notice the absence of the city’s kingly statues guarding the Art Institute of Chicago?
After getting a thorough cleaning and new coat of wax, the historic pair of the museum’s lions were moved back to their plinths by noon July 19, 2022.
The lion pair, created by artist Edward Kemeys and installed May 1894, were cleaned and reinstalled by AIC partner, Conservation of Sculpture and Objects Studio. For more about their creation visit “The Lions of Michigan Avenue” and “Lion, one of a pair.”
Meanwhile, in the southwest suburb of Brookfield, female pygmy hippopotamus Banana, is getting acclimated to her new home in Brookfield Zoo’s Pachyderm House and can sometimes be seen outdoors on that building’s west side. (Smaller than the river hippo, the pygmy weighs between 350 and 600 pounds and can grow to about 5.75 feet long,)
Jodie Jacobs