Lion of Venice Lion of Venice The Lion of Venice is an ancient bronze winged lion sculpture in the Piazza San Marco of Venice, Italy, which came to symbolize the city — as well as one of its patron saints, St Mark — after its arrival there in the 12th century. The sculpture surmounts one of two large granite columns in the Square, thought to have been erected between 1172 - 1177 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,
Arts Square (Saint Petersburg) Arts Square (Saint Petersburg) The Arts Square (, "Ploshchad Iskusstv") is an open public square in the center of Saint Petersburg, Russia. Before the construction of the Square, the land was the hunting grounds of the Empress Anna of Russia. Then Russian architect Francesco Bartolomeo Rastrelli (1700-1771) created a garden maze on the site. In the early XIXth century, Russian architect Carlo Rossi (1775-1849) was commissioned to develop the land between the Field of Mars and the Nevsky Prospect. The Russian Museum (formerly Mikhailovsky Palace) stood out as its most prominent building. Rossi also designed the Square, and the facades