Bucrania

The exterior of the Cook County Courthouse features two different styles of bison heads. As stated by Ralph Hammett, the architectural consultant on the project, these animal heads were meant to be an allusion to American Bison, which in recent years has been recognized as being symbolic of unity and resilience (National Parks Service). Although not a direct linkage, these bison have parallels with the classic Roman adornment of Bucrania or the skull of an ox (Wikimedia Commons). Often draped in garlands and flowers, the Roman Bucrania are decidedly more ornamental than the bison on the courthouse (National Gallery). They have appeared in Tombs in Italy and beyond, often representing a sacrificial animal and/or the social relations between the living and the dead (Robin). When applied to the context of the Cook County Courthouse, some have taken the bison heads to represent the “often brutal power of justice in this factory of despair,” (ArchitectureChicago PLUS). This is compounded by the location of some of the bison heads above the entryway, in that unlike the allegorical figures on the sixth story, visitors cannot miss these adornments. In other words, visitors or criminals may enter and thus see themselves as animals to be sacrificed. 

                                                                                                                                                                      Minotauros Myron NAMA 1664 n1 Links to an external site. by Marsyas Links to an external site./CC BY 2.5 Links to an external site.

The Minotaur

Furthermore, the bison head directly above the entryway features a maze-like design on its head, and is decidedly more imposing than the bison heads on the sixth story. This may be an allusion to the popular Greek myth of the Labyrinth of Crete in which Minos, a son of Zeus and King of Crete broke a promise to his uncle Poseidon that he would sacrifice a bull in his honor  (Explore Crete). Finding the bull too beautiful, Minos kept the bull to which Poseidon responded by compelling Minos’ wife to fall in love with the bull, resulting in the Minotaur—a human likeness with a bull head  (Explore Crete).  In response, Minos relegated the Minotaur to a massive maze-like structure called the Labyrinth, hidden away from society (ExploreCrete).

The stigma applied to the Minotaur and its forced separation from greater society draws parallels to the life of an inmate in the Cook County Criminal Courthouse’s adjacent jail. In other words, as aforementioned in the "History" section of this e-portfolio, the planning committee behind the courthouse were perturbed by the downtown location of the previous courthouse located on 54 West Hubbard Street. Thus, when creating the current Cook County Criminal Courthouse, geographic remoteness was a top priority such that inmates, like the Minotaur, are hidden away from society.