Venice’s Sacred Lion Of St. Mark Was Actually Made In China, Analysis Reveals

Study Finds ^ | October 06, 2025 | Massimo Vidale (Università degli Studi di Padova.)

[Red Badger]

Second hand lions ping!...............

[Ezekiel]

Scientific testing shows Venice’s bronze Lion of St .Mark was cast in China during the Tang Dynasty

Orange Man bad..

[montag813]

Return it to WalMart.

[j.havenfarm]

I can’t say I’m surprised. Though I’ve never though of it before, it looks Chinese in style

[Red Badger]

It’s a conglomeration of recycled Chinese statuary that used to be something else entirely...............

[Verginius Rufus]

Venice continued to hold various Greek islands long after 1261 and even after 1453—they lost Cyprus in 1570-71 and Crete in the 1600s but still held the Ionian Islands after that.

[Verginius Rufus]

Has it ever been determined if Marco Polo ever went swimming in swimming pools?

[woodbutcher1963]

Plus, didn't Kubla Khan actually concur everything from Venice to China sometime in the 1200s?

Everything except Japan that is because of the DIVINE WIND also known as......

Kamikaze

[wally_bert]

That scene was never in the mini series.

[dangus]

Don’t they read the bottom of the box in Italy?

[Red Badger]

It was written in Mandarin..................

[EnderWiggin1970]

The map on this page indicates Marco returned by sea most of the way, 1292-1295, from China to Persia. That still leaves quite an overland journey, and if those dates are accurate it's a little too late to match the 1293 date mentioned in the OP. (Though one could support it needed repairs immediately after finishing such an epic journey!)

One speculation I'd offer is that it was sent by ship (separate from any of the Polos) as far as possible - say to the Holy Land or Suez, and then brought overland to the Mediterranean shores to finish the journey. Moving it a long way by land just seems too much to ask, at least along the great length of the Silk Road route.

[Red Badger]

He must have had Amazon Prime..................

[Verginius Rufus]

There was a battle between Venice and Genoa in 1298 near the island of Korcula (Curzola) and it is generally believed that Marco Polo took part in the battle and that’s when he became a prisoner. (Some argue for a different battle.) So anyway he was back in Italy before 1298.

[Verginius Rufus]

The maximum Mongol extension into eastern Europe was earlier in the 1200s, well before Marco Polo’s time. They destroyed the city of Kiev.

[woodbutcher1963]

I just read up on the Mongol expansion. Apparently they made it all the way to the Danube River in Hungary.
They attempted to take over Poland after destroying Kiev, but failed. They also conquered Syria and attempted to take over Egypt, but failed.

Later on they twice tried to conquer Japan but each time their fleet was destroyed by a typhoon. Which the Japanese called the Kamikaze (Divine Wind).

[Sirius Lee]

Stylistic evidence reveals it began as a mythic tomb guardian called a zhènmùshòu, complete with horns and bat-like ears later cut away.

Which is why it looks retarded. Probably went to the same art school as this guy:

That's supposedly a cat.

[Verginius Rufus]

They fought the battle of Legnica in Poland in 1241. In Croatia there is a tradition that they made it almost to the Adriatic (a few miles from Rijeka) but I don’t know if that is generally accepted. They sacked Baghdad in 1258. They were stopped by the Mamluks at Ain Jalut in Israel in 1260 or they would have invaded Egypt.

[SunkenCiv]

Thanks, nice find!