The monument of Henry the Lion is located in the Old Town Market and commemorates the founder of Schwerin, Henry the Lion. The history of the square dates back to the year 1160. For centuries, the market served as the political, economic, and religious center of the city.
The seven-meter-high sculpture consists of a lion standing on a square pillar. Episodes from Henry's life are carved in stone on the sides:
The Wendish Crusade of 1147, the founding of Schwerin in 1160, the creation of the Braunschweig Lion from 1164 to 1176 as a symbol of Henry's reign in the Braunschweig residence, and the Bardowick Buttock Parade.The monument was erected in 1995 on the eve of the 800th anniversary of the city's founder and on the occasion of the 1,000th anniversary of Mecklenburg. It was created by the sculptor Peter Lenk.Since the unveiling of the design plans and the inauguration of the artwork, there have been very mixed opinions. While some smiled as they looked at the four stories on the pillar, others were outraged by the depicted obscenities – a horse with an erect penis and a row of naked buttocks.
The artist Peter Lenk is known for his provocative and ironic works. In Schwerin, with his monument, he wanted to point out the many facets of Henry, both as a city founder and a city destroyer, as a proud ruler and an apocalyptic rider. The scenic reliefs of the Mecklenburg conquest are depicted in a martial and ungraceful manner. Flaunting, slaughtering, glorifying – with this view of history, the artist confronts the viewers of the monument. Lenk also hid a secret in his Lion monument. Through a hole in Henry's proud horse's hindquarters, one could look inside – if it were not sealed. Inside, Lenk depicted the East German state and party leader Erich Honecker and his Soviet counterpart Leonid Brezhnev in a fraternal kiss on a relief. However, the artist rejects a free view of the fraternal kiss. He wanted to preserve a memory of GDR history. Those interested in the relief can find it on the internet. Lenk displays his depiction of the fraternal kiss on his own website www.peter-lenk.de.
Peter LenkPeter Lenk wurde 1947 in Nürnberg geboren. Er studierte an der Staatlichen Akademie der Bildenden Künste Stuttgart und arbeitete zunächst als Kunstlehrer und Töpfer. Der Bildhauer hat sich vor allem durch seine satirischen und provokanten Werke einen Namen gemacht, in denen er seine Sicht auf gesellschaftliche Zustände darstellt. Aufsehen erregten in den 1980er Jahren seine ungenehmigten künstlerischen Aktivitäten im öffentlichen Raum in Berlin und Bonn. Seine Hauptwerke stehen vorrangig in Süddeutschland. Sie setzen sich auch oftmals mit öffentlichen Personen und Prominenten auseinander – mit einer für Lenk typisch tabulosen Handschrift. Peter Lenk lebt in Bodman-Ludwigshafen am Bodensee.
