Existing comment:
The Sculptured Groups:
The monumental sculpture groups and individual figures above the tower doors were done by German sculptor, Rudolph Schwartz. According to a traditional story, when the first statue groups were displayed to the board of regents overseeing the construction in the late 1890s, the Indiana veterans were shocked to see so many bearded faces, which to them simply looked "too German." So the sculptor had to spend many hours giving his limestone warriors proper mid-western shaves. A few mustaches survived, but apart from the aging father figures in the sculpted groups, there were no more chin whiskers. The young, but ageless, faces on the statues now reflect how the veterans remembered themselves in the days of their youth, and how they wanted to be remembered forever into the future. |