Lion Statue Between the Bridges (Neustadt am Rübenberge)

The lion between the bridges in Neustadt am Rübenberge is a sculpture by the sculptor Bernd Maro, inaugurated in 1982. The location of the sculpture in public space is the parking lot between the bridges, namely the listed Marktstrasse bridge over the Kleine Leine and the Löwenbrücke over the Leine.

The lion between the bridges refers to the history of Neustadt am Rübenberge. On the one hand, it guards the coins of the Counts of Wölpe, who founded the town on the Leine in the Middle Ages around 1215. These counts had received the right to mint coins from the German Emperor, but they also minted buffalo horns as well as the Wölper lion on their silver coins.On the other hand, the lion between the bridges also refers to the younger lords of Neustadt am Rübenberge, the Guelphs and the Dukes of Brunswick-Lüneburg. The lion was set on a bastion-like wall, suggesting the time of the Thirty Years' War, after which the Lion Bridge was built in 1687. At that time - after the destruction of the city fortifications of the new town "[...] a functioning city security was no longer to be thought of anyway."
Source: Wikipedia

Here, a wall was recreated from the 16th century bastion, on which a huge lion sits enthroned and guards the first coins, the Wölper silver penny, which were minted in a mint in the city around 1200.
The sculptor Bernd Maro created the lion in 1982.