Preposterous and Charming Wooden Lions of the Seventeenth Century from the Church of Elijah the Prophet in Yaroslavl

They are kept in the White Chamber of the Rostov Kremlin, which houses the delightful display of the Museum of Church Antiquities, which has existed since 1883.

These sculptures in the round adorned the bases of the prayer places built for Tsar Alexis Mikhailovich and Patriarch Nikon on the model of the royal seat of Ivan the Terrible of 1551 in the Dormition Cathedral of the Moscow Kremlin, a sort of allusion to the throne of King Solomon, though on its steps stood lions of gold.