Comments on: The Ypres lions http://www.awm.gov.au/blog/2007/04/04/the-ypres-lions/ Blog Thu, 02 Feb 2012 19:01:56 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.0.5 By: Jax http://www.awm.gov.au/blog/2007/04/04/the-ypres-lions/comment-page-1/#comment-2449 Jax Sat, 04 Apr 2009 08:55:58 +0000 http://blogdev.awm.gov.au/1917/?p=19#comment-2449 Aaron, I too heard the same story from the locals in Ypres. The soldiers boxed them up and sent them home... but couldn't reveal their "booty" until 1936 when they were officially given to the Australian people. Even if it isn't true, it makes a great yarn in the spirit of Aussie larrikinism. Aaron, I too heard the same story from the locals in Ypres. The soldiers boxed them up and sent them home… but couldn’t reveal their “booty” until 1936 when they were officially given to the Australian people.

Even if it isn’t true, it makes a great yarn in the spirit of Aussie larrikinism.

]]> By: Aaron Pegram http://www.awm.gov.au/blog/2007/04/04/the-ypres-lions/comment-page-1/#comment-1581 Aaron Pegram Tue, 15 May 2007 03:02:30 +0000 http://blogdev.awm.gov.au/1917/?p=19#comment-1581 I was very pleased to learn of the In Flanders Fields 1917 blog on the AWM website; even more so when I read your entry about the Ypres lions. I have just returned from a week on the Ypres and Somme battlefields, having spent my time with a local couple who have grown up in the Ypres area. The topic of the Ypres lions did come up in conversation one day, and it was interesting to hear the local story behind their donation. According to local myth, the lions were stolen one night by Australian soldiers and taken to where they were billeted - how a group of soldiers simply whisk away two large limestone statues in appalling conditions and undetected, I don't know. The statues were returned sometime thereafter, and after the war the Ypres locals saw it fit that they be returned to the Australians as a sort of joke. The story is perhaps exactly what it is - a myth - but an interesting yarn nonetheless. I fully support the idea of a blog - such an excellent way to broadcast ideas and opinions in the name for exhibition development. Well done guys! Cheers, Aaron Pegram National Museum of Australia I was very pleased to learn of the In Flanders Fields 1917 blog on the AWM website; even more so when I read your entry about the Ypres lions. I have just returned from a week on the Ypres and Somme battlefields, having spent my time with a local couple who have grown up in the Ypres area. The topic of the Ypres lions did come up in conversation one day, and it was interesting to hear the local story behind their donation.

According to local myth, the lions were stolen one night by Australian soldiers and taken to where they were billeted – how a group of soldiers simply whisk away two large limestone statues in appalling conditions and undetected, I don’t know. The statues were returned sometime thereafter, and after the war the Ypres locals saw it fit that they be returned to the Australians as a sort of joke.

The story is perhaps exactly what it is – a myth – but an interesting yarn nonetheless.

I fully support the idea of a blog – such an excellent way to broadcast ideas and opinions in the name for exhibition development. Well done guys!

Cheers,

Aaron Pegram
National Museum of Australia

]]> By: Craig Tibbitts http://www.awm.gov.au/blog/2007/04/04/the-ypres-lions/comment-page-1/#comment-1580 Craig Tibbitts Wed, 04 Apr 2007 03:43:33 +0000 http://blogdev.awm.gov.au/1917/?p=19#comment-1580 I've just finished reading Ian Beckett's recent book, <em>Ypres: the first battle, 1914</em>. He mentions an interesting anecdote about the Ypres lions that I'd not heard before: 'Supposedly, the local inhabitants had placed straw in the mouths of the two stone lions on either side of the passageway through the old ramparts known as the Menin Gate in the belief that the Germans would not enter the town until the lions had eaten the straw' (p 31). This is referenced to Dominiek Dendooven's 2001 book <em>Menin Gate and Last Post: Ypres as Holy Ground</em>, p 53. Dendooven apparently worked for In Flanders Fields Museum. It reminds me of other superstitious tales from the First World War such as the Angel of Mons and the statue atop the Albert Cathedral. For the latter, the story went that the war would not end until it fell. Craig. I’ve just finished reading Ian Beckett’s recent book, Ypres: the first battle, 1914. He mentions an interesting anecdote about the Ypres lions that I’d not heard before:

‘Supposedly, the local inhabitants had placed straw in the mouths of the two stone lions on either side of the passageway through the old ramparts known as the Menin Gate in the belief that the Germans would not enter the town until the lions had eaten the straw’ (p 31).

This is referenced to Dominiek Dendooven’s 2001 book Menin Gate and Last Post: Ypres as Holy Ground, p 53. Dendooven apparently worked for In Flanders Fields Museum.

It reminds me of other superstitious tales from the First World War such as the Angel of Mons and the statue atop the Albert Cathedral. For the latter, the story went that the war would not end until it fell.

Craig.

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