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,
Saint Isaac's Square granite pedestals; they were made famous by Pushkin in his last long poem, "The Bronze Horseman". Nearby is Quarenghi's Horse Guards' Riding Hall (1804–07), in part inspired by the Parthenon and flanked by the marble statues of the Dioscuri, by Paolo Triscornia. Opposite the cathedral is the Mariinsky Palace, built in 1829-1844 for Grand Duchess Maria Nikolayevna. Currently the palace houses the Saint Petersburg Legislative Assembly. In front of the palace is the 97-metre-wide Blue Bridge, which used to be the widest in Saint Petersburg. Spanning the Moika River, the bridge is usually perceived as the extension of the square,