The Lion of Saint Mark in Venice

The bronze statue of the winged lion that stands on a column in Piazza San Marco in Venice, and which became the symbol of the city and of one of its patrons, Saint Mark, was brought from the Armenian Kingdom of Cilicia in the 12th century. The statue weighs 3 tonnes. It began as a statue of a winged lion-griffin on a monument to the god Sandon in Tarsus, around 300 BC. Sandon was the chief god of the Cilician pantheon (Heracles for the Greeks, Vahagn for the Armenians). The image of the lion-griffin later appeared on the flag of the Venetian Republic, and since 1949 the prizes of the Venice International Film Festival have been called the “Golden Lion”.

The Armenian Kingdom of Cilicia (1080–1375) was a strong ally of the European Crusaders. Its capital was first Tarsus and later Sis (Kozan).

In the photograph the lion stands on a column whose capital is carved with a cross.