Winter Lions at Lion's Bridge: The Four Booksellers

Hello, fellow Steemians! I would like to share with you the beautiful and sad story behind one of the oldest Bridges in Sofia.

Lion's Bridge is definitely one of the most loved symbols of the capital city of Sofia. Its construction continued between 1889-1891. The bridge was designed by Czech architect Václav Prošek. However, the thing about this beautiful bridge is it has a rather dark history.

In the times of the Turkish yokе (Bulgaria was under slavery for 500 years), in the Ottoman Empire there was a law in force according to which the criminals that did not reside in the city were to be hanged in front of the gate they came in from.

Four Bulgarian revolutionaries, academics - booksellers by profession, opposed the Ottoman authorities as they formed Intellectual Revolutionary Committee and helped to spread the idea of Liberation among the Bulgarian population, thus becoming enemies of the state. They were hanged at the Colourful Bridge as it used to be known in those times. It was supposed that the incoming Russian army would enter the city from that side.

After the Liberation the four lion figures were placed at the four ends of the bridge to commemorate the bookseller's lion bravery and selfless service to the Bulgarian people.

The beauty of the Lions makes them a favorite spot for taking pictures. As they somehow want to remind us that we should never let our past mistakes to be repeated.

Thank you for reading! I hope you liked it!