Saturday, February 09, 2008

Episode XXXVII: Seal

Here is a little something that I did not know about the University of Kansas. I figured that if I did not know about it, you probably did not know about it either. I also figured that if I found it interesting, you would also find it interesting. This is probably where I made my mistake.

Anyhow, the point is- take a look at the University of Kansas' official seal:


You may not be able to tell, due to the low resolution, but the seal is entirely a picture of Moses kneeling before a burning bush. Kind of cool, I thought, although I did not know how it applied to KU. I read on KU's website that fire was supposed to be a symbol for knowledge, and that Moses kneeling was supposed to be a symbol for humble learning.

The same scene plays out a few places on campus, including a window pane in the delightful little chapel we have:


And finally, a larger-than-life statue of Moses, kneeling before a stained-glass burning bush. Here I am looking over Moses' shoulder (actually, I just took this picture today, and it was the inspiration for the post- I had never noticed the burning bush before- it was cool!!!)


Well there you have it. Whether or not you found it interesting, you can probably now say that you know something the majority of KU students and alumni do not know about KU.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

VERY cool! Thanks for sharing! Hope you are doing well with your humble learning and that you know the fire has not gone out on the home front here...always looking forward to seeing you again! Missed seeing you at V-ball yesterday! Deyon

Anonymous said...

Kimber put me onto your neat blog. Very well done and I didn't know any of it but it was very interesting.
Here's a little-known fact for you:
My cousin, Shirley Shaver, married a man named James Surface who became the dean at KU, several years ago! How big a dean or what kind of dean, I don't know. Interesting, what? Kylees GPA

Anonymous said...

I had an unfair advantage, growing up in town I had known the story. Still, it is a good one. There are several good spin off stories about the push to demand that the Moses be removed (the church and State thing), but he has endured.

I like the historical tilt of this post. Enjoyable.

Craig