Mending an Ear

From the cover of our September/October 1979 issue: Nittany Lion shrine sculptor Heinz Warneke posed with his finest work shortly after re-creating the Lion's ear after it was damaged by vandals in 1978.

cover of Sept/Oct '79 issue featuring Warneke beside Lion sculpture

 

Famed sculptor Heinz Warneke, who created the Nittany Lion shrine from a 13-ton block of Indiana limestone in 1942, returned to the University Park campus 37 years later to re-create the Lion’s right ear after it was smashed off by vandals in November 1978. Warneke, then 84, was more than twice as old as his creation when they were captured together on film for the cover of the September/October 1979 issue of The Penn Stater. Warneke died four years later at the age of 88, but his finest work is immortal.