Lion of Gripsholm Castle

The Lion of Gripsholm Castle (Swedish: Lejonet på Gripsholms slott) is a notable example of a poorly performed taxidermy located in Gripsholm Castle, Sweden. The lion is badly stuffed and is considered to have a comically deformed face.^[1]

In 1731, the dey of Algiers, Baba Abdi, presented King Frederick I of Sweden with a lion, one of the first lions in Scandinavia.^[2] When alive, the lion was kept in a cage near Junibacken. When the lion died, it was stuffed and mounted. There are two main theories that give insight into an explanation of the exaggerated features of the restoration. A popular theory is that the taxidermist and the museum-keepers may have never actually seen a lion before, and did not know how they were supposed to look. This explains the liberties taken with the lion.^[3] Another theory points out that the lion looks very ferocious from the side, which explains the inaccuracies in the rest of the body, as the taxidermist may have simply focused too much on the side view.^[4]

The badly stuffed lion has been widely mocked for decades.^{[5][6][7][8][9][10]}