Clever Magazine, Vol. VI, #9, Lion Investigations continued (www.clevermag.com)

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A Clever Investigation:

Continuing our Lion Investigations

by the Phantom

Carrol Chrys took a photo of this lion statue when she was in Japan

Over the past few months we've received several emails from other investigators who have been scouring the internet in search of lion statue information. Clever's investigations have been popping up, thanks to Google's helpful search engine.

To: editor@clevermag.com
Subject: lion statues

I came to this page from Google, looking for "statues of lions." Interesting that others have the same interest. Actually, I'm researching why the lion appears so often in countries/cities that never saw a wild lion walking its streets.

The lions in Chicago are among my favorites, but Patience and Fortitude outside the New York Public Library have their own charm. In Norway, where I'm living at this point, there are two lions guarding the parliament. The incline up to the entrance is called "Løvebakken" (Lion Hill). Also, the national coat of arms has a lion carrying an ax. It's from the1280s, and therefore one of the oldest in the world. But a lion — in Norway?

I take pictures, too, but a lot of the stuff will be found in art books or travelogues. Of course, taking your own pictures will be best for your purpose.

Glad I found you, Elsa W. Udbjorg

Elsa makes a good point, one that has intrigued Clever for some time. Why are lion statues so important to countries where lions never existed in the wild? Of course, the USA has mountain lions and we also have sea lions but they are named after the real lions that originated in Africa, because something about them reminded the zoologists of the King of the Jungle.

One of these days Clever will undertake a census of all the lions living in the USA at present. There are one or two, at least, in every major city that has a zoo, and there are others in those safari parks we wander into when we're on road trips.

However, if anybody has any census information on USA lions to pass along, Clever would be happy to hear from you!

Here's a photo of Pat Merchant. She was in Florence at the time and she couldn't resist standing at the foot of the Dante statue Santa Croce in Florence surrounded by stone lions. She knew that Clever readers would be especially interested in seeing these particular lions.

Here's another we received on the subject:

To: editor
Subject: Double Lion Statues

I stumbled upon your website and your questions of stone lions and have this to offer. Hopefully it helps in some way:

In Egyptian mythology, Aker is an Egyptian god composed of two lions. Egyptians believed that Aker guarded the entrance and exit to the Underworld. Also, and probably more interesting, because the ancient Egyptians believed that Aker guarded the gates of the morning and night, statues of the lion god were placed at the doors of houses and also at tombs to guard both the living and the dead from evil spirits and more earthly foes. These lion guardians were sometimes given the heads of men and women which turned them into a more recognizable form - that of the Sphinx. Good luck in your search. Kevin Schultz

Thanks, Kevin! We've seen examples of these statues before. Now we know.

Clever Magazine would like to thank Carrol Chrys, Pat Merchant and Timmie Sue Akerson for sharing their trip photos of lion statues. We appreciate them and are happy to add them to our growing collection of stone lions.

Timmie in China with a lion statue

Clever Magazine has been investigating lion statues for years. If you're interested,
here's the list of articles on the subject so far:

The Investigation begins ~ a San Francisco lion, Italian lions
Lion Symbolism ~ Venice lions
More Lions ~ US lions, postcard lions
The Investigation continues ~ reader responses
The Lion of Lucerne ~ the Swiss lion
Lions in Paris ~ Paris photo essay
Even more on Lions ~ a reader response
Miscellaneous Lions ~ continuing the investigation
More Paris Lions ~ further contributions to our growing lion statue archive
Scott Beavin's Lion Photos ~ photos of Firenze
Confederate Memorial Lion ~ a memorial to Confederate soldiers
More lions ~ info about Belfort Lion and a few more photos
Timmie's Lion Obsession, a photo essay

If you have any lion photos or information to share, we'd love to hear from you.
Contact editor@clevermag.com

For more information on Chinese Lion Statues, check out Greg Pringle's website

We heard from Maarten from The Netherlands, who photographs lion statues for his website, which is called Shooting Safari: Lions. Check it out!