The Lion of Bujalance will travel to the Metropolitan in New York for an exhibition on classical Greece

The Regional Ministry of Culture has detailed the characteristics of the Iberian sculpture that is being loaned to the Metropolitan. The Lion of Bujalance, dated to the 5th century BC, depicts a lion in an alert pose with a threatening expression, is carved in limestone and measures 80 centimetres high, 23 wide and 62 long. It was found by chance at the Los Aguilones estate, in the Manga Granada area, on the boundary of the municipal district of Córdoba with Bujalance; as it comes from a find with no associated stratigraphy, it is not possible to determine its original function with certainty. Regarding the terracotta head of Heracles from the Museum of Huelva, the note specifies that it is an anthropomorphic head with archaic formal characteristics suggesting a colonial origin, and links it to the accounts of classical authors about a sanctuary dedicated to Herakles on an island opposite Onuba (Strabo III, 5, 5). The regional minister Patricia del Pozo added that the interest of national and international researchers in the pieces from Andalusian museums is "a good thermometer for measuring the quality and impact of the excellent daily work, sometimes less visible, carried out by the curators and technicians of the Andalusian museum network".

The Iberian sculpture known as the Lion of Bujalance will leave Córdoba to be exhibited at the Metropolitan Museum (MET) in New York. The Museo Arqueológico y Etnológico de Córdoba is temporarily lending the piece for the exhibition «Los mares color vino: Arte e identidad más allá de la Antigua Grecia», devoted to the expansion of classical Greek culture and its mixing with other peoples of the Mediterranean.

The show will occupy temporary exhibition room 199 of the Metropolitan building on Fifth Avenue and can be visited from December 14, 2026 to April 11, 2027. The exhibition covers the period between 800 and 500 BC and brings together Greek works and pieces from other cultures, including Egypt, Crete, Cyprus, Tunisia, Sicily, France and Spain, with the presence of the Iberian culture.

Alongside the Córdoba work, the MET will exhibit two pieces from the Museo de Huelva: a fragment of a Greek vase from its storerooms and a terracotta head of Heracles dated to the 6th century BC, measuring 7.2 centimetres in height, 7.5 in width and 4.4 in thickness. The latter was found on the surface on the Isla de Saltés in the 1930s. The Regional Minister of Culture, Historical Heritage and Sport, Patricia del Pozo, has stated that «collaboration with museum institutions of international reference is one of the fundamental pillars for consolidating the advancement of knowledge of our history». Del Pozo added that these initiatives are «an unbeatable way to broaden the audiences of our museums».

The exhibition can be visited at the Metropolitan Museum in New York between December 14, 2026 and April 11, 2027, in room 199 of the Fifth Avenue building.