I spent the morning having coffee and a wander around Bath with a friend. We went past lots of statues covered in packaging, very strange we thought until we remembered that this Summer Bath is to be full of life size Lion sculptures.
A giant pride of 100 individually decorated, life-size lion sculptures, will be taking up residence in and around the city of Bath from the end of May to mid September to raise funds for local charities and bring a smile to the faces of residents and visitors alike. The lion sculptures, sponsored by businesses, local communities and individuals, are being decorated by artists and craftspeople. Here one of the Lion of Bath sculptures is inspected by the real thing at Longleat!
The 100 lions in the pride will be decorated by 100 talented artists, and will be on the streets of Bath at a rate of 5 per day from the end of May. Here is one artist at work on one of the Lions, who were an original design of Bath Sculptor Alan Dun, he was asked by the Lion team to come up with a lion sculpture that was neither too civic, nor too Lion King. He was also the Sculptor responsible for King Bladud's Pigs in 2008, a similar scheme where Bath's Streets were filled with decorated pigs! The legend of King Bladud: In 863BC. Bladud, King of the Britons, had spent much of his youth studying in Athens where he contracted leprosy. Returning home and realising that an imperfect prince could not inherit the throne, he left the royal palace in disguise to take a job as a swineherd in an "untravell'd part of the country". This was certainly the Avon Valley, as Bladud drove his pigs in search of acorns he crossed the River Avon. 
Bladud's pigs had also contracted his disease but were cured when they rolled in the hot mud around Bath's springs. Observing the miracle, Bladud also bathed in the hot murky water and he too was cured. Returning home in triumph he went on to become King. In gratitude for his cure, Bladud founded a city at Bath. Here are a few of those 106 Pigs who were auctioned off and raised a huge amount for local charities. I'll update with some decorated Lion pics as soon as they are loose on the streets of Bath.Thank you for dropping by!
I've never been to Bath and would love to visit. Those pigs seem like an additional reason. I'm sure somewhere in 'the north' did something similar with penguins (I think it was penguins) a year or two ago.
ReplyDeleteLovely blog
Sue
Thanks for reading Sue, come to Bath and we'll have a coffee and look at the Lions! Di x
ReplyDeleteI adore the live lions investigating the statue!
ReplyDeleteI havn't been to bath for years, but would love to return!
Natalie x
The pigs were amazing ......walking down the street and there was a painted pig ,certainly made me smile ,will definitely be down to see the lions...Bath is one of my fav cities.
ReplyDeletegreat blog Di xxxx
Thank you so much for commenting guys, it's so nice to know someone actually stops by - I'm never sure! There's always a welcome here if you decide to visit Bath, Di x
ReplyDeleteI never knew that about the history of Bath despite many visits - thanks for sharing the story.
ReplyDeleteI missed this post when it went out, just been having a read around your blog. Id love to see those lions- a couple of years ago when I lived in Edinburgh there were painted cows everywhere and it was fun spotting them!
ReplyDeleteThe pigs look amazing too!
(and thankyou for the comment you left over on my blog) Yvonne x