Lion Statues - Victoria Obelisk, Royal Victoria Park - Bath, Somerset - Lion Statues on Waymarking.com

Three lion statues adorn the base of the Victoria Obelisk in Royal Victoria Park, Bath.

"Obeslik with tripartite base, set within circular balustrade. Dated 1837. By G.P. Manners, city architect. Triangular section obelisk, approx. 10m high, with flattened arrises, base sweeps out, beneath band of Vitruvian scroll moulding; large triangular plinth (inscribed at top of each facet) with small wreaths to arrises. Thick egg-and-dart cornice surrounds main shaft of plinth. On west side is a low profile relief of the Princess, set within an oak-leaf wreath with fillets; south west and north west facets have square recesses with the crests of Albert (in bronze) and Victoria (in stone). Widened arrises sweep out to form bases of three lions couchant on stepped plinths. Whole enclosed by balustraded circle.
HISTORY: This memorial was raised to commemorate not the accession, but the coming-of-age of Princess Victoria: it was actually inaugurated on her Coronation Day, 28th June 1838. Of great importance as a key visual incident in Royal Victoria Park, as a striking Neo-classical monument, and as the earliest of the numerous public monuments erected to Queen Victoria. Early designs by Manners included a fountain and the replacement of the lions with dolphins. The design owes something to one of 1827 by Henry Goodridge for a commemorative lamp post, also triangular in plan with sentinel lions (illus. In `Beyond Mr Pulteney¿s Bridge¿ 1987 exhib. Cat., 35). Victoria Park was laid out in 1830 on the former Barton Fields, an area of common land and was opened by the Duchess of Kent with her daughter, Princess Victoria, on October 23rd 1830. It was the country's first municipal park."

SOURCE - (visit link)

Physical Address: Victoria Column Royal Victoria Park Bath, Somerset England Web Site: Not listed

Visit Instructions:
Take a photo of the lion.

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