In the park on Mikhailovskaya Square, near the playground, stands a bronze Leo-Aquarius – an enlarged copy of a medieval ceramic vessel of the 12th-13th centuries from the archaeological museum in Pereyaslav. The sculpture appeared here in 1974, along with several other copies of archaeological monuments of Ukraine – the Zbruk idol and Polovtsian women. In the Middle Ages, such vessels-aquarius were used for ritual washing of hands in temples and in everyday life, and in folk beliefs, the aquarius did not just pour water – it was considered a regulator of life.
Over the past fifty years, the lion has darkened from time, but its ears and back still shine – rubbed by the hands of thousands of people who want to make a wish. According to legend, it is enough to sit on the lion and grab its ears for a wish to come true.
Not far from it stands the Zbruch Idol, a copy of a stone Slavic pagan idol from the 9th–10th centuries, found in the Zbruch River. Together, these sculptures form a small space of living ancient history in the midst of a modern city.