User:Slen1432/Lion of Venice

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The Lion of Venice is an ancient bronze winged lion sculpture in the Piazza San Marco of Venice, Italy, which symbolizes St. Mark, one of its patron saints, and eventually the entire city of Venice after its arrival in the 12th century. The sculpture surmounts one of two large granite columns in the Square, thought to have been erected between 1172–1177 either during the reign of Doge Sebastiano Ziani or about 1268, bearing ancient symbols of the two patron saints of Venice.

The Lion sculpture has had a very long and obscure history. It is believed that the statue began as a winged lion-griffin statue on a monument to the god Sandon at Tarsus in Cilicia about 300 BC. In the present-day, lions can be seen scattered all across Venice.

Description
The Lion is depicted having its mouth semi open, a wide face, minimal mane, and wings. The statue weighs approximately 3,000 kilograms. Later, a halo on its head and book under its front paws was added to represent St. Mark. The book is often inscribed with the Latin phrase, "Pax tibi Marce Evangetlista meus," which translates in English to, "Peace to you, Mark, my Evangelist."

Origin
The Lion, in its present form, is a composite of different pieces of bronze created at very different times, building upon ancient "core" components. It has undergone extensive restoration and repair work at various times.

Scholarship over the last 200 years variously attributed the provenance of the most ancient parts of the statue to Assyria, Sassania, Greco-Bactria, medieval Venice, and various other times and places. Scientific and art historical studies in the 1980s, however, led to the conclusion that it was created between the end of the 4th and the beginning of the 3rd centuries BC somewhere in the Hellenistic Greek or Oriental Greek world. The original bronze figure, taken as a whole, was likely significantly different from the Lion of today; and, predating Christianity, would not have originally had any association with Saint Mark.

Medieval
It is likely that the statue was assembled into something like its present form by or during the Medieval period. The earliest textual reference to the Lion is from 1293, when it is recorded as having been restored after long neglect.

Expatriation and repatriation
The Lion was taken to France after Napoleon's conquest of the Venetian Republic, during his 1797 campaign in Italy. It was damaged in the course of removal and transport; lacking wings, paws, tail, and Gospel-book. After being restored by French sculptors, possibly Edme Gaulle or Jean Guillaume Moitte, the Lion was mounted on a plinth in the new Fontaine des Invalides. The fountain, completed in 1804, was located at the Place des Invalides, Paris. After Napoleon's downfall the Lion was returned to Venice, now a part of the Austrian Empire. On 2 October 1815, during the process of removal, it was again badly damaged. A rope broke, the statue fell, and smashed apart; whether by accident, or deliberate sabotage by one of the French workers is unclear. As a result, the bronze figure was broken into approximately 20 pieces. Having lost its main ornament, the Fontaine des Invalides was eventually redesigned, and finally demolished in 1840.

Repatriated to Venice, the fragments of the Lion were stored at the Arsenal before it was repaired by Bartolomeo Ferrari and returned to its column, officially, on 13 April 1816. This restoration included an alteration to the Lion's tail, now extended, which had previously been tucked between its hind legs. The book beneath its paws was again recast; the French replacement having been lost, stolen, or abandoned.

Iconography
Ultimately, the image of the Lion appeared on the flag of the Venetian Republic, and it is also well known as Golden Lion in the form of the prizes introduced in 1949 at the Venice International Film Festival.