The cast iron Florentine Lions are copies of the original marble Medici lions at the Loggia dei Lanzi in Florence, Italy. It is thought that the two lions may have been cast at the Alexandroffsky Head Mechanical Works in St. Petersburg, Russia where Andrew Eastwick and his partners built engines and cars for the first railroad between Moscow and St. Petersburg.1 When Eastwick returned to Philadelphia in 1850, he brought with him twelve pieces of cast iron statuary including two lions. The Florentine Lions were originally installed at Bartram House in southwest Philadelphia but were later donated to Fairmount Park Art Association in 1887 and, subsequently, installed at the entrance to the Mann Center for the Performing Arts in 1976.

Kreilick Conservation, LLC was retained by the Mann Center for the Performing Arts (MCPA), in conjunction with the City of Philadelphia’s Office of Arts, Culture and the Creative Economy (OACCE - the Owners), to complete conservation treatment of the Florentine Lions. The scope of work included: de-installation from the existing concrete and brick bases, transporting to our conservation studio, cleaning, performing metal repairs, re-finishing, transporting back to the site, and re-installation on new pedestals (by others) in new locations at the main entrance to the Mann Center.

1 https://bartramsgarden.org/the‐mann‐centers‐secondhand‐lions/ (13 August 2015)