Median stone lion rescued in Hamedan

Vandals have cut scratches and grooves into the body of the statue, whose surface has also been eroded by visitors’ touch.

In addition, the rare artifact has been further contaminated by wax dripping from candles, which local residents, following an old superstition, light on the stone lion’s head.

“We prepared a plan to save the stone lion in 2007 after receiving several letters from cultural heritage enthusiasts, who asked for the rescue of the statue,” Hamedan Cultural Heritage, Tourism and Handicrafts Department (HCHTHD) director Asadollah Bayat told the Persian service of CHN on Tuesday.

A team of experts used appropriate cleansers to strip the wax off the statue and afterwards, it was installed on a two-meter high platform to keep it safe from visitors’ touch.

The HCHTHD plans to make a covering over the statue in order to safeguard it against rainfall and sunlight.

The statue is 2.5 meters in length, 1.15 in width, and 2.2 in height in its front part.

The statue is one of a pair of stone lions installed at the gate of Hamedan. Muslims named it the Lion Gate after the advent of Islam in Iran.

Mardavi, the founder of Iranian Ziyarid dynasty, planned to transfer the stone lions to the city of Rey, but didn’t succeed in implementing the plan. So he ordered the statues to be destroyed. One of the statues was completely demolished and the other, which still remains, was seriously damaged so that its paws and tail were obliterated.

The stone line was left on the ground in the city until 1949 when painter and architect Hushang Seyhun made the former platform for the statue.

MMS/YAW

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MNA