Anyone who walked at least once in Piazza San Marco saw him: proud, suspended on a column, The winged lion watches on the lagoon. It is everywhere: on flags, on buildings, even on the biscuits packs. But there is a detail that few know – and that today radically change our idea of this symbol: The lion of San Marco is not Venetian. He is Chinese.
A new archaeological study, published in the magazine Antiquityfound that the famous bronze statue, nor in Greece or Rome, as it was thought. It was melted in China during the Tang dynastybetween the VII and the 9th century, and originally represented a “Zènmùshòu”a mythological creature placed to protect the tombs.
A discovery that mixes history, art and science – and that tells a much more connected medieval world than we imagine.
A strange creature to be a lion
Historians have always asked themselves about True past of the lion of San Marco. No document tells how it arrived in Venice, nor when. The only certainty is that It is there at least since 1293the year in which it is mentioned in a register that reports the need for repairs.
But there is another curious detail :. It has a strange nose, protruding teeth, ears that look like human and deep folds on the forehead. And then those wings, so little natural, and an almost threatening pose.
Over time, many scholars have noticed how difficult it was to place it in western artistic style. No similarity with the Romanesque or Gothic lions sculpted in Europe. It seemed rather out of a fantastic story.
And in fact, in a sense, it is.
Archaeologists follow the traces in the East: the test is in the metal
To investigate the mystery was a group of scholars led by Massimo Vidalearchaeologist of the University of Padua. After a stylistic analysis, the group found evident similarities with the ZènmùshòuChinese mythological animals that they were placed to guard tombs. These sculptures, often in ceramic or metal, had Leonini traits but also wings and horns. They had to frighten the evil spirits and protect the deceased.
Then the scientific analyzes came. The researchers picked up Three tiny metal champions From the statue – from the mane, from a wing and a pivot – and have examined the isotopic composition of the lead contained in the bronze.
The result? A perfect match with the metalliferous deposits of the south-east of Chinain particular those of the provinces of Anhui and Zhejiangalong the Yangtze river. No other place in the world presents the same “chemical signature”.
In other words: The metal of the lion of San Marco comes from China. It is not a supposition. It is a scientific test.
Segate Corna, Criniera Added
The discovery does not end there. By observing the statue closely, the researchers found signs of obvious changes. Under the current mane – probably added later – there are smooth surfaces and net cuts: Probably there were hornsremoved later. Moreover, it is difficult to imagine that the Republic of Venice could adopt a symbol with the horns, considered to be a bad hope.
Then the lion, who arrived in the city as a funeral monster, has been “cleaned up” and transformed in the winged symbol of San Marco. A perfect adaptation at a time when Venice was reconstructing one’s own image politics and religious.
The track of the Polo brothers: possible that they brought the lion from China?
The study cannot say with certainty how the lion arrived in Venice, but proposes a fascinating hypothesis: they may have been Niccolò and Maffeo Polofather and uncle of the famous Marco Polo, to find him in the East.
Between 1260 and 1270, the two Venetian merchants traveled to the court of Kublai Khanin Beijing, inside the Mongolian Empire. China Tang, at that time, was already abandoning the ancient funerary symbols. Many Zènmùshòu were destroyed or missing.
It is possible that the pole, skilled in recognizing the value of rare things, have recovered one of these ancient objects and they brought it home. In an era in which Venice had just lost Constantinople (1261) and was looking for a new strong symbol, the arrival of the lion would be perfect.
A global symbol long before globalization
Today, thanks to this discovery, The lion of San Marco tells a new story. It is not only the symbol of a city, but also the proof of how much The medieval world was already global. An object born in China, transformed into Venice, which has become a Christian and political icon.
It is not a fake. It is something even more interesting: A fragment of a connected world, born from the encounter between different culturesalong the route of the Silk Road.
And perhaps, the next time we look at him, but A story of travel, transformations and meetings between distant civilizations.
