The impressive foyer of Memorial Hall is a shrine of memory featuring “The Victory of Hinsdale”.  Sculpted of Carrara marble by noted Chicago-based sculptor Oskar J.W. Hansen, the commemorative statue is an angelic figure holding a sword.

 

Born in Norway, Hansen fought with the Belgian Army during the war and was a student of the famed sculptor Rodin in Paris.  Hansen’s manner of stone sculpting has been compared to that of Michelangelo, in how he hews off surplus stone, cutting into it directly without first making a preliminary model.

 

Hansen described his masterpiece 

as representing three elements:

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"To me they are of the essence of the idea of VICTORY and they may be expressed in words as Justice, Mercy, and Beauty."

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The Victory of Hinsdale was unveiled on Armistice Day, 1928.