The city of Leipzig approves a gaunt stick-figure lion as its city coat of arms – for 700,000 euros.
He's wiry, his claws are worn, but he has a more defined rear end than his predecessor: The Leipzig city coat of arms lion has reinvented itself. Or rather, had itself reinvented. The Berlin agency Edenspiekermann GmbH has given it a makeover for its online presence. The residents of the beautiful university city will now have to live with the result, but thanks to social media, everyone else has an opinion on it, too.
"Did Peugeot sponsor this?" one user on X asks, for example. Another laments on Facebook: "The Leipzig city coat of arms doesn't deserve this." The same sentiments are echoed on Instagram: "It looks embarrassing, it was better before," writes one disappointed user. But one way or another, the new lion is here to stay. After all, its transformation to a "thinner, graphic, and streamlined" design came at a considerable cost—€300,000 more than the planned €400,000. The reason given: the programming of the new websites ultimately had to be factored in. And this in a city that recently imposed a budget freeze.
In times like these, such sums seem obscene for a stick figure; even in Leipzig, everyone is struggling with job losses and inflation, and the city there is also increasingly wielding the budget axe. The mayor, however, is happy, selling the new lion as "new brand architecture in corporate design." One wonders how the old Wettin dynasty would have reacted. This Saxon noble family once provided our heroic city with its heraldic animal. It was meant to exude an aura of courage, pride, and power. But as gaunt as the lion has become, it primarily radiates this: hunger, deprivation, and need.
Berliner-zeitung
