Madrid, 31 October 1850. Queen Elizabeth II inaugurated the new building of the Spanish Congress of Deputies, a neoclassical work of architect Narciso Pascual Colomer.Durante seven years, during the construction, the deputies had to meet in the dance room of the Teatro Real de Madrid, where they welcomed the new facilities. But the streetlights were placed on both sides of the porch staircase. As politics and clarity do not marry well, parliamentarians launched an effective protest against the lanterns who were immediately withdrawn.

To quickly fill the void, the sculptor who made the fronispizio of the building, Ponciano Ponzano, was invited to make a couple of lions. But the poor economic situation in Spain forced the artist to give up the noble materials. The lion made them cast and painted them to make them bronze. Meteorology had no pity and, a little more than a year later, due to citizen and press criticism, the leaders of the Cortes commissioned the sculptor José Bellver to build a new pair of lions with more durable material.

But neither did the Bellver have an excessive budget and designed two small stone lions. They looked after the cuts rather than the wild lions that had been lost on the big poles as if they were miserable cats. Once again, the protests forced them to withdraw from prison. The audience you like most will find them in the gardens of Monfort in Valencia.

It was clear that the solution was to make large metal pieces, but economically that project was not viable. Until the African war gave a definitive boost to the kings of the savanna. On March 23, 1860, during the Battle of Wad-Ras, the Spanish troops achieved victory and confiscated several bronze guns. The Government decided to convert the canyons into lions. The commission was made to the author of the first couple of sculptures. The spectacular 3,500 kilograms felines of Ponciano Ponzano Ponzano were molded in Seville in 1865. Finally, in 1872 they were placed in the place where they were located. They were baptized as heroes on May 2, 1808: Daoiz and Velarde. But the inhabitants of the city immediately gave them a nickname: Benavides and Malospelos.

Therefore, the lions of the Congress of Deputies came to the place where they were barely moved by the protests. 140 years later they have seen with open mouths that citizens, despite their protests, have not allowed them to approach the door of Congress.