The River Horse is a bronze sculpture on the campus of George Washington University

George Washington University

The George Washington University is a private, coeducational comprehensive university located in Washington, D.C. in the United States...

. It is located at Lisner Auditorium

Lisner Auditorium

Lisner Auditorium is an auditorium, located on the campus of The George Washington University, at 730 21st Street, Northwest, Washington, D.C.. It is named for Abram Lisner, a trustee of the University who donated the money for its construction....

, at 21st Street and H Street, Northwest, Washington, D.C., in the Foggy Bottom

Foggy Bottom

Foggy Bottom is one of the oldest late 18th and 19th-century neighborhoods in Washington, D.C. The area is thought to have received the name because its riverside location made it susceptible to concentrations of fog and industrial smoke, an atmospheric trait that did not prevent the neighborhood...

 neighborhood.

In 1996, George Washington University President Stephen Joel Trachtenberg

Stephen Joel Trachtenberg

Stephen Joel Trachtenberg was the 15th President of George Washington University, serving from 1988 to 2007. On August 1, 2007, he retired from the presidency and became President Emeritus and University Professor of Public Service.- Background :...

 presented this bronze statue of a hippopotamus

Hippopotamus

The hippopotamus , or hippo, from the ancient Greek for "river horse" , is a large, mostly herbivorous mammal in sub-Saharan Africa, and one of only two extant species in the family Hippopotamidae After the elephant and rhinoceros, the hippopotamus is the third largest land mammal and the heaviest...

as a gift to the University's Class of 2000. The hippo stands with its mouth wide. Its nose is slightly worn due to passerby rubbing it. A plaque is placed on the base:

Legend has it that the Potomac was once home to these wondrous beasts.

George & Martha Washington are even said to have watched them cavort in

the river shallows from the porch of their beloved Mount Vernon on summer evenings.

Credited with enhancing the fertility of the plantation, the Washingtons believed

the hippopatamus brought them good luck & children on the estate often attempted

to lure the creatures close enough to the shore to touch a nose for good luck.

So, too, may generations of students of the George Washington University.

Art for wisdom,

Science for joy,

Politics for beauty,

And a Hippo for hope.

The George Washington University Class of 2000

August 28, 1996

Sources

• "Order of the Hippo’s not-so-secret secrets unveiled", GW Hatchet, Cindy J. Roth, 2/8/01
• J. Goode, Washington Sculpture, The Johns Hopkins University Press, 2008. ISBN 0-8018-8810-7, A cultural history of outdoor sculpture in the Nation's capital, discussing the River Horse.
• http://wikimapia.org/6286328/Hippopotamus-Statue