This lion is one of a pair taking the whole weight of a big pulpit which is now discarded in a secluded part of the Our Lady of the Sacred Heart of Jesus (where the festa is this weekend) and retained for posterity. The pulpit is made of mohagony wood with a base of marble and 2 bronze lions. It was manufactured in Malta in 1936 - the lions were most probably designed in Malta but cast in bronze in some other European country. Pulpits were very much in use for sermons when the priest used to terrorize the faithful with cries of fire from heaven and damnation in hell ect. (exagerated somewhat) some decades ago. With the new church rituals these pulpits became redundant as were those over-enthusiastic sermons.
Today is d-day for public transport in Malta. The new Arriva buses have been rolled out and the old buses taken off the local roads - good luck Arriva and especially Malta and Maltese commuters
