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The Lion of Bienservida

Bienservida, Sierra de Alcaraz y Campo de Montiel, Albacete

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The Lion of Bienservida

Curiosity · Bienservida, Sierra de Alcaraz y Campo de Montiel, Albacete

Image of Bienservida, not of the place itself.

Iberian zoomorphic sculpture from the 6th century BC, also known as the Lion of Huerta Bayonas, found by chance in 1893 at the Huerta Bayonas site, in the municipality of Villarrodrigo (Jaén), adjoining Bienservida (Albacete), to which it was moved and from which it takes its current name. The piece, mutilated when found, was first kept at the private home of Antonio Pretel, owner of the estate where it appeared, and around 1941 was donated to the Archaeological Museum of Albacete, where it is preserved today. Like other Iberian sculptures, it has a psychopomp and apotropaic character, guiding the soul and protecting the deceased and their memory, with an Eastern symbolic root; especially notable is the severed human head appearing beneath its paws, a motif from the skull cult most common in Celtic settings.

Photo: Siempremolinicos (CC BY-SA 3.0)

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