Contact Artefacts please if you have any comments or more information regarding this record.	Menu Home Upfront Now Up Books Towns Structures People Firms Lexicon		Lion Gates Cape Town, Western Cape Louis Michel THIBAULT: Architect

Date: 1805 Type: Gate Status: Extant   Click to view map Coordinates: 33°55'48.97" S 18°24'51.70" E Alt: 37m

These are two sets of gates on opposite sides of Government Avenue which runs along the north western side of the Company Gardens. On the north western side the gate leading into the Michaelis School of Art is guarded by two female lions. On the opposite side the gate from the south east that leads into the Company Gardens is guarded by two male lions. They were built in 1805 by THIBAULT with the lions & lionesses sculpted by the architect's frequent collaborator Anton ANREITH. The lionesses on the Michaelis side are original but the lions on the other side, curiously, were removed in 1873. In 1958 they were restored when Ivan MITFORD-BARBERTON — arguably South Africa’s greatest sculptor after Anreith — created new beasts for the old perches. (Andrew Cusack) They were renovated in 2008 by skilled restorer. Books that reference Lion Gates Crump, Alan & Van Niekerk, Raymund. 1988. Public sculptures & reliefs Cape Town. Cape Town: Clifton Publications. pg 44, 46 (ill.) Shorten, John R. 1963. Cape Town : A record of the Mother City from the earliest days to the present. Cape Town: JR Shorten in association with Shorten and Smith Publications. pg 171 ill.