We’re looking into the long and complicated history of the statue of Minerva that presides over the fourth-floor architecture studios in Paul Rudolph Hall. She was first installed when the building was new in 1963, then removed in 1975. A cast of the original statue was placed in the space when it was renovated in 2008.
Architecture students famously decorated and otherwise abused the statue during those early years, many of them unaware it was not a plaster copy but an 1,800-year-old Roman marble sculpture. Alums, do you have stories or memories of Minerva? Tell us in the comments or email mark.branch@yale.edu.