Lion in Monrepos, Granite Lion monument in Monrepos Park, Vyborg, Russia.

The Lion in Monrepos is a damaged red-granite sculpture of a lion that once held the coat of arms of Karelia in its paws. It now stands without its pedestal in the yard of Monrepos Park's maintenance building, having lost all its limbs and the coat of arms. The lion faces east and was originally unveiled on 6 December 1927.

The lion was unveiled on 6 December 1927, the tenth anniversary of Finland's declaration of independence, on a rock in Tervaniemi Park where a statue of Peter the Great had stood until 1918. Sculptor Gunnar Finne won the 1924 competition; General Vilhelm Aleksander Thesleff funded the 100,000-mark work and chose the site. After the Winter War the lion was replaced by Peter the Great in 1940, and it was found buried in Monrepos Park in 1989.

The monument reflects the period when this city was part of Finland, and visitors today see it as a symbol of the region's shared past. It draws people interested in understanding how this place has belonged to different nations and what that means for its identity.

The broken lion lies on the yard of Monrepos Park's maintenance building, not at its original cliff site in Tervaniemi Park. It has lost all its limbs and the Karelian coat of arms, so look for a damaged granite block rather than a standing figure. Photos and part of its inscribed plaque are kept in the Vyborg Castle museum.

The lion was toppled from its Vyborg cliff in 1940 and again in 1941; its largest fragment was buried in Monrepos Park and only found by park staff in 1989. The sculpture now stands without its pedestal, missing the Karelian coat of arms and all four limbs. The inscribed pedestal fragment is kept at the Vyborg Castle museum.