{"id":414728,"date":"2026-01-18T10:28:15","date_gmt":"2026-01-18T10:28:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/414728\/"},"modified":"2026-01-18T10:28:15","modified_gmt":"2026-01-18T10:28:15","slug":"bid-farewell-while-you-can-st-augustines-iconic-lion-statues-will-soon-be-on-the-move","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/414728\/","title":{"rendered":"Bid farewell while you can: St. Augustine&#8217;s iconic lion statues will soon be on the move"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>If you hear a faint roar in the middle of the night, don\u2019t panic.<\/p>\n<p>Late Tuesday, January 27, beginning around 11:00 p.m.,  two marble lions at the <a href=\"https:\/\/sjcitizen.com\/the-mane-concern-st-augustine-bridge-could-lose-famed-lions-until-2028\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\">Bridge of Lions <\/a>will be removed \u2014 leaving the span without the signature sentinels for up to two years.<\/p>\n<p>The <a href=\"https:\/\/sjcitizen.com\/category\/news\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\">Florida Department <\/a>of Transportation is temporarily removing the statues while replacing the aging seawall along the Matanzas River.<\/p>\n<p>During the overnight closure, the City\u2019s contractor, LaRue House Movers &amp; Sons, Inc., will remove the lions, Firm and Faithful, and take them to a secure den.<\/p>\n<p>Local artists Joe Segal and Enzo Torcoletti will restore the lions before they return to their rightful perch.<\/p>\n<p>Crafted in 1926 in Florence, Italy, the lions are replicas of the famed Medici lions that flank the Loggia dei Lanzi in Florence\u2019s Piazza della Signoria. <\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" data-od-removed-fetchpriority=\"high\" data-od-replaced- data-od-xpath=\"\/HTML\/BODY\/DIV[@class='elementor elementor-74 elementor-location-single post-16243 post type-post status-publish format-standard has-post-thumbnail hentry category-eats category-news tag-featured-3']\/*[1][self::DIV]\/*[1][self::DIV]\/*[1][self::DIV]\/*[10][self::DIV]\/*[7][self::FIGURE]\/*[1][self::IMG]\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"683\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/lions-1024x683.jpg\" alt=\"Old picture of man with lion statues\" class=\"wp-image-16246\"   data-eio=\"p\"\/>Dr. Andrew Anderson with two miniature medici lions. (Wikimedia Commons)<\/p>\n<p>Commissioned by philanthropist Dr. Andrew Anderson II, a close friend of Henry Flagler, and carved from Carrara marble by renowned sculptor Raffaello Romanelli, the lions were gifted to the city. <\/p>\n<p>Though Anderson died before their installation, the statues were placed at the bridge\u2019s entrance in 1927 and quickly became a beloved part of St. Augustine\u2019s singular identity.<\/p>\n<p>The Bridge of Lions, completed the same year, was named in their honor and later added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1982.<\/p>\n<p>This is not the first time the lions have left their posts. They were previously removed in 2005 during a major bridge restoration project and returned in 2011, a city rep said in a statement.<\/p>\n<p>The Bridge of Lions will reopen to traffic in the early hours of Wednesday, January 28, around 5:00 a.m.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"If you hear a faint roar in the middle of the night, don\u2019t panic. Late Tuesday, January 27,&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":414729,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[56],"tags":[228,226,227,229,88,198752],"class_list":["post-414728","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-arts-and-design","tag-arts","tag-arts-and-design","tag-artsanddesign","tag-design","tag-entertainment","tag-featured-3"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/414728","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=414728"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/414728\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/414729"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=414728"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=414728"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=414728"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}