Mycenae is the ancient city famous for the Lion Gate, the largest surviving Bronze Age sculpture in mainland Greece. The gate was built around 1250 BCE as the monumental entrance to the fortified citadel of Mycenae in the northeastern Peloponnese.
Above the gate's massive limestone lintel is a triangular relief showing two lion-like animals facing a central column. The heads are missing, probably because they were made from a different material. The design combined political power, religious symbolism and practical engineering, making the entrance one of the best-known monuments of Aegean prehistory.
Mycenae was a major centre of the Late Bronze Age culture often called Mycenaean Greece. The site is associated with the legendary Agamemnon, although archaeology cannot prove that the Homeric king ruled there. German archaeologist Heinrich Schliemann excavated the citadel in the nineteenth century and helped bring its rich tomb discoveries to international attention.