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The Lion – A Mane Attraction

The lion, with its prominent mane, is a popular symbol in art and architecture on the U.S. Capitol campus. Here are six areas where you'll find this type of cat on the Capitol campus, including a few located inside for those days when March "comes in like a lion" with cold and unpleasant weather.

By Sarah Davis | March 1, 2016

With its prominent mane, the lion has long been a symbol in art and architecture representing royalty, stateliness and bravery. Through these appearances in paintings, sculpture and ornamental adornment to buildings, the "king of the jungle" often finds itself out of the wild and in more urban areas, like Washington, D.C.

Below are six areas where you'll find this type of cat on the Capitol campus, including a few located inside for those days when March "comes in like a lion" with cold and unpleasant weather.

1. Grant Memorial

Recently brought into popular culture by the opening credits of Netflix's House of Cards TV series, the Grant Memorial includes four bronze lions on pedestals guarding the flags of the Army and the United States.

Grant Memorial lion before restoration, with the Capitol Dome in the background.

Left to Right: 1) Grant Memorial prior to restoration, 2) Senate Fountain

2. Senate Fountain

The display fountain in the park between the U.S. Capitol and Union Station, located over the Senate underground garage, features lion-head spouts on the faces of its large, granite hexagon.

3. Rayburn House Office Building

In the Rayburn Building's foyer, a decorative lion head sits above the door leading to the courtyard.

Lion head ornamentation above the door leading from the Rayburn Building foyer to its courtyard.

Three signs of the zodiac painted on the ceiling of the Brumidi Corridors. (Taken in 2003 prior to conservation.)

Left to Right: 3) Rayburn Building, 4) Brumidi Corridors

4. Brumidi Corridors

Leo, the astrological sign represented by a lion, appears among the zodiac area of the Brumidi Corridors in the Senate Wing of the Capitol Building.

5. Thomas Jefferson Building

On the second floor of the Library of Congress Jefferson Building's West Corridor, the mural of Zoology shows a woman and a lion in a painting collection depicting the sciences.

Zoology Mural in the Library of Congress Thomas Jefferson Building

This statue of Senator William Edgar Borah was given to the National Statuary Hall Collection by Idaho in 1947.

Left to Right: 5) Thomas Jefferson Building, 6) Capitol Visitor Center

6. Capitol Visitor Center

Affectionately known as the "Lion of Idaho," Senator William Edgar Borah's statue greets those entering the North Orientation Theater from Emancipation Hall.