Formerly Place du Pont, then Place Napoléon in 1843, the mayor of Cenon (at the time, La Bastide had not yet been annexed by Bordeaux) wanted to pay homage to the Emperor, to whom we owe the stone bridge. It became Place du Pont again in 1870. In 1946, Place du Lion was renamed Stalingrad, in memory of the decisive Soviet victory over the Germans, at the cost of terrible fighting in 1942-1943. Initially, it was intended to be monumental. Designed by the architect Claude Deschamps, it was difficult to build. Planned to be round, it was ultimately rectangular, filled in and leveled only in 1840. Of the uniform houses that were to line it, only those framing the beginning of Avenue Thiers remain. Over the years, a square was created there, surrounded by railings. The highly attractive square hosted a flower market on Thursdays, then, around 1860, a food market, and was also home to the popular Alcazar café-concert. In the 20th century, the reign of the automobile brought about a further transformation: from a living and meeting place, the square became a bus station for all buses on the right bank. This was until the renovation carried out at the very beginning of the 21st century by architects Brochet, Lajus, Pueyo, and Fortier, to accommodate the return of the tram in 2003. This was accompanied by the installation in 2005 of the famous Giant Lion, designed by Lyon-based visual artist Xavier Veilhan. The statue is part of the public commission placed by the CUB (Bordeaux Urban Community, now Bordeaux Métropole) for works of art intended to enrich the municipalities of the Bordeaux metropolitan area crossed by the new tramway. The soft blue of the sculpture, visible from the other side, blends, depending on the viewing angle, with the color of the sky. Cast in resin on a metal frame, like a large toy, Veilhan's great beast parodies the tradition of commemorative monuments - the lions of Belfort or the Place Denfert-Rochereau in Paris - but celebrates nothing in particular. On the other hand, it signals the new identity of the square, affirming contemporary art in the city, in a former industrial and working-class district, redeveloped after having been abandoned for a long time.