St. Elena's Lions - Vatican City State
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Metro2
N 41° 54.402 E 012° 27.213
33T E 288793 N 4642553
Thee four lions are located inside the Vatican Museum.
Waymark Code: WMP593
Location: Vatican City State
Date Posted: 07/03/2015
Views: 4
St. Elena's sarcophagus is located inside the Vatican Museum and is mounted on four carved lions.
The placard accompanying the sculpture indicates that the artist is Francesco Antonio Franzoni and that the mounting took place in 1777 when the sarcophagus was brought to the Vatican Museum.
Wikipedia (
visit link) adds about the sarcophagus:
"Sarcophagus of Helena
Sarcophagus of Helena
The Sarcophagus of Helena is the red porphyry coffin in which Saint Helena, the mother of emperor Constantine the Great, was buried (died 329). The coffin, deprived of it contents for centuries, was removed from the Mausoleum of Helena at Tor Pignatarra, just outside the walled city of Rome, and ultimately moved to the Vatican museums in the 18th century, and now is in the Sala a Croce Greca of the Pio-Clementine Vatican Museum.
The Sarcophagus is carved in the Egyptian porphyry, used only in the finest Byzantine imperial monuments. It is noted that the carved imagery depicts victorious Roman Cavalry riding above captured barbarians. It is unclear if such imagery was intended for the sarcophagus of a highly religious Christian woman, or whether the coffin was repurposed for her burial."