Coming from Africa as I do, I have often wondered why so many countries use African lions as national symbols. Lion are used to represent sports teams, in fables, in mythology, as biblical emblems. I suppose it is to symbolise power, strength, nobility, and royalty. But in Sweden for example, there are poweful indigenous animals such as the bear, the wolf, and the eagle which could be used just as well.
The Stockholm Riksdag (Parliament) has depictions of lions all over the buildings, as does the Royal Palace. And pedestrian streets and areas usually have several concrete lions (designed by Anders Årfelt) guarding them.
I have grown to love these benevolent-looking lions. They range from smaller ones in our part of town
To bigger ones in the central part of Stockholm.
In April 2017, The truck hurtling down a busy main street during terror attack on Stockholm struck a couple of these concrete lions, slowing the truck’s trajectory. After the terror attack the lions were covered with flowers. They seemed particularly symbolic of Stockholm during those days.
There are now more concrete lions all over the streets and the street where the terror attack took place has ENORMOUS ones guarding several of the intersections – they weigh four metric tons each as opposed to the one metric ton of the regular ones. There were 37 in place before the terror attack and there are now 37 more guarding the streets.
These are the big ones
They replaced these smaller ones
You can also buy little ones as tourist souvenirs.
Oh seriously… How cute are they? And there are lady lions and gentlemen lions too! I’m off to Stockholm now to get a handful of these lions! Are they there all year round? Over here in Germany, we have grey Lego but only for Christmas (at least in my little town).
The lions are permanent safety barriers in almost all streets. I am strangely fond of them. You can see shiny spots on the bigger ones where people have petted them. The bigger ones have permanently happy expressions.
To be honest Janet, these concrete lions do a terrific job of protecting pedestrians and I think it is the majesty of them that makes them so popular still. They were used in ancient civilisations (like Rome) not only kept as pets but also to destroy enemies. They appeared regularly in the games in the Colosseum in Rome where death was a distraction from the daily problems facing the plebians.