The Friends of the Pomona Public Library...
The Friends of the Pomona Public Library will sponsor a 100th birthday party for Goddess Pomona, the Roman marble statue presented to the city in 1889 by the Rev. C. F. Loop, a pioneer horticulturist in the Pomona Valley.
The celebration will be from 2 to 4 p.m. Sunday at the library, 625 S. Garey Ave., site of the 5-foot-tall statue.
Looking at the statue, left, is Vanessa Chatigny, 14.
In 1888 Loop was visiting the Uffizi Gallery in Florence, Italy, when he saw the original statue, which had been unearthed from among the ruined temples and palaces of the Mediterranean, where it had lain buried for centuries.
Since Loop’s hometown was named after the goddess, he decided to have the figure copied, and contracted with Italian sculptor Adolph Cipriani to make a replica. The cost of the replica, including transportation to Pomona, was $10,000.
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