It is no secret that the Lion Shrine is a central symbol here at Penn State.  It symbolizes the power and unity felt by anyone who has ever come in contact with the university.  Any alteration to the monument would take away at least some element of its value and central meaning from fellow Penn Staters.  Survice Metrology has the means to prepare us for that.

The Lion Shrine will be inaccessible on Tuesday and Wednesday of next week, while Survice Metrology, a university-employed firm, will be gathering a 3-D modeling and digital replica of the shrine.  Essentially, the purpose of this operation is to assure that, should any damage be inflicted on the shrine, the digital model gathered by Survice Metrology will allow the Lion to be exactly replicated.

Our Lion, a shaped mass of limestone, has been relatively unscathed during its nearly 70-year life.  But it has nonetheless seen its share of vandalism and damage, namely to its right ear, which has broken off three times.

The most recent effort to protect the Lion was in 1995, and it involved a six-week casting of the shrine in fiberglass and polyurethane rubber.  This very new method of protection will take only two days and is projected to serve its purpose well into the future.  Survice Metrology is credible in this process, at that.

The company doing the work, Survice Metrology, has used this process to create digital models of the Sphinx, and other precious artifacts including Michelangelo’s David.

Undergoing this process in the middle of the week was no accident.  Phillip Melnick, the man in charge of the Lion Shrine, wisely reasoned that,

We figure most fans come into town for a game starting on Thursday, and we expect the work to be done by then.

So should anything ever happen to the beloved Nittany Lion Shrine, Survice Metrology will be able to effectively recreate an identical structure, thanks to its upscale use of technology.  Best of all, Penn State will hear little complaint from fans next week thanks to the convenient dates of this company’s activity.

May the Lion’s legend live on.

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