Back On Duty: Budapest’s Iconic Stone Lions Return After Makeover

This photo and several other images released on October 18 on the Facebook page of BKK -- the Budapest Transport Center -- showed the piece-by-piece return of historic stone lions to their plinths at the four corners of Budapest’s Szechenyi Chain Bridge.
 

The stone animals have guarded the bridge since 1852, shortly after the elegant span over the Danube was opened. This photo shows one of the lions on a sunny day in 1894.

The lions were knocked off their pedestals in 1945 when the chain bridge and other spans over the Danube were destroyed by Nazi forces retreating from the Soviet Red Army advance.

After being restored to their plinths in 1949 (pictured), the lions perched in place until the summer of 2021, when they were removed for a makeover as part of a major renovation to the bridge.

One of the four lions of the Szechenyi Chain Bridge during removal in August 2021.

Sculpture restorer Balazs Szemerey-Kiss works on one of the lions of the Chain Bridge in November 2021.

Restoration included “dental hygiene treatment” to fix a broken stone tooth. Materials for the restoration were selected to match the coloration of the limestone lions.  
 

Work under way on the lions in November 2021.

According to several historical sources, a minor scandal broke out in the 1800s over accusations that the sculptor had forgotten to give the lions tongues. The sculptor reportedly responded to the persistent criticism by pointing out that real lions tuck their tongues almost out of sight when they are at rest and that his stone lions’ tongues are simply hard to see from below.

One of the stone lions being returned to its pedestal on October 18.

The stone lions each weigh a reported 12 tons -- around the weight of a public transport bus.
 

A restored lion in place on October 18.

Work on the lions is continuing in situ, with a protective coating being added to slow the weathering process for what is set to be a decades-long shift on duty. The revamped bridge the lions guard is due to fully reopen in 2023.