Munich parade of lions comes to an end

The Münchner Löwenparade has come to an end.

Since May 2005 around 500 colourful lion statues have decorated the streets and squares of Munich. The aim was to make an interesting spectacle for visitors to the city during the National Garden Show 2005 and the Football World Cup 2006.

Now the statues are being removed and sold off. The proceeds are being donated to the children's charity "Münchner Kinder in Not" (although I couldn't find any website belonging to this organisation).

The auction for the first 50 lions took place at the Nockherberg beer hall on 24th November 2006. The lions sold for between €1,000 and €6,000.

The second auction will take place on Valentines Day 2007.

Not all the lions will disappear, however. Some of them are owned by the businesses that sponsored them and are positioned on private property. These businesses may choose to keep the lions in their current location.

Further info on: Münchner Löwenparade

See also the previous TT topic: Munich Lions Parade

yipee! finally! and the money goes to charity which is great

Good thing. I find it tacky that every city has their own animal to "decorate". Just one more spot to attract tourists... argh.

I don't know, I kind of like the lion that stands outside the Andechs am Dom. Yes, my favorite.

Good riddance. Free the city from the tyranny of the plastic alley cats.

I liked them. Hours of drunken fun to be had riding them.

Is this the au pair thread? No? Sorry, I'll be off then.

Oh thank god! No more "So what are the lions for?" questions from tourists.

I actually am a bit sad about this. I am glad that charity organisations will get the proceeds so I guess everyone wins.

I liked them...but then I also liked the bears in Berlin, the cows in Zurich, the camels in Dubai etc. But I didn't like the cows in London (2002), I didn't think they suited.

I quite like some of them. This one, for example:



For some reason I can't post my favourite picture although it's exactly the same size as the one above.

We had cows in Stockholm in '04/'05. Some of them were pretty cool.

Geneva had a cow parade around that time, too, I think in 2004, although I think it also had one (cows again, what else) at the beginning, right after Zurich.

Calgary had cows in 2001 (I think).

I believe the whole thing started in Zurich in 1998. Then Chicago did it in 1999. Then everyone else got on the bandwagon.


I know I'm in the minority, but I think most are pretty cool.

From looking at the website, I believe the money is going to different children's charities. "Elterninitiative krebskranke Kinder e.V." and Ronald McDonald Haus" are two that are mentioned.

I really liked this one but don't remember any more what it was called.

I'm sure there are more of us than you think.

Yeah, Toronto followed suit in 2000 with "Moose in the city". Just what every city needs - 326 moose!!!

Like the Munich lions, the moose were auctioned off in 2001 and the money was donated to various local charities.

I thought the lions were cute - especially when they were being used as props for drunken photos. Kids' reactions to them were also funny. Took lots of photos of the lions (and the bears in Freising) with the intention of making a calendar for my fam last Christmas but somehow never got around to it.

I liked them too. Had always thought they were intended to be a permananet arrangement.

The tourist's favorite is definately bondage lion, I hope it stays...

I suspected they would be auctioned off, like the cows in Geneva, so I took lots of pictures whenever I could.

I must say I liked them and found that some were really ingenious, like the Moshammer one though Daisy gave me the creeps.

Awwww this is really sad.

I love the lions and, as ER said, it provides for hours of drunken fun watching people fall off them.

Did not Hamburg have the little "men with hats" statues or are they something permanent? Somebody from Hamburg in the house?

We still have our bears up here in Freising. They went up in 2003 to celebrate 200 years of secularisation -- basically when we finally managed to palm off the Bishopric to you guys down in Munich.

The bear is the symbol of Freising because the town's founder, St. Korbinian, made a bear carry his belongings to Rome after it had killed his horse. The bear is one of the three symbols on the Pope Benedikt's coat of arms.

According to the official Freising bear website (yes, tragic, I know) there aren't any plans to clear our pavements from them just yet.

My son will be highly disappointed. He loved climbing and riding on each and ever one of them that we came across. His joy made me like them and hopefully the kids in need will be filled with joy just the same.

That's the Water Carrier, Hans Hummel, loads of them all over Hamburg City Centre.

We won't be rid of them. If the lessons of other cities are any example, then many will remain on display after they are auctioned off -- they'll just be moved off of public land.

Hooray.

Mini-cinzia will miss them. She liked to pet the noses of the ones that were on all fours - the ones she could reach from her stroller.

Some of them were starting to look pretty rough around the edges though.

...yes, like this one. When I took the picture last July the poor beast was in pretty bad shape, especially its nose, and I'm not sure those flowers are meant to be there, either.

Thank God they're going away. I find them very tacky.

I liked them, and all the different designs they had, especially the one infront of the Deutsch Eich hotel on Reichenbachstr.

I have always liked things like that. The Cows in Zürich, the Men in Hamburg, The Bears of Broadway in Winnpeg - my home town last year. Have seen some other animals/statues in other cities, but cannot remember at this point what they were.

oh, too bad... so bisare, they were actually quite cool. I even persuaded my sis to pose in front of each and every of them on her visit to Munich, so cool they were. This one standing there in the rain somehow reminded me on Spilberg's AI...

http://www.flickr.com/photos/alegria275/295692117/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/alegria275/295692258/

They made for good props when drunk, gonna miss them!

I am/was also a fan - could be cos I'm a Leo.

Only got round to taking a couple of pix as didn't realise they'd be going "already"!

Can see the problem with wear and tear though, but they could be repaired and kept indoors somewhere. Hope a lot do stay around on private property, or how about a Löwenmuseum?? I guess the auctioned off ones will go to owners who will keep them to themselves though.

Thanks for posting a couple Kay, hadn't seen either of those - the "flames" one's particularly nice! Perhaps others could post their pix too - maybe there's an album in The Gallery already.

How many people have photos of themselves riding the lions?

Apologies for the silly question, been out of focus for quite a bit.

Any reason for lions having been chosen as against, for example, crocodiles?

Where's the bondage lion?

Munich was founded by a lion.

Do you have a favourite lion, one that you wish could be yours and yours alone? Or maybe you think it would be cool to own one just so you could stick it in your garden and let it glower threateningly over the fence at your small-minded, spiessig, petit-bourgeois neighbour's garden gnomes? Or are you just looking for the ultimate Valentine's Day gift?

Whatever your reason for wanting one, now is your chance! Following the success of the first "Leo-Auktion" last year, a second batch of the lions will be auctioned to raise money for a Munich children's charity, on Wednesday, 14 February, at the Paulaner beer hall on the Nockherberg. Full details of the event, with photos and starting prices of the lions up for auction, on the Leo-Parade auction web page.

I believe this is the website in question, Bob: Kinder in Not e.V. (Also for all of Germany.)