The Lion Man (Löwenmensch) is the star object of the Ulm Museum — a 40,000-year-old figurine carved from mammoth ivory, depicting a human figure with the head of a lion. It was found in fragments in the Swabian Alb and is now recognised as the oldest known figurative work of art ever discovered anywhere in the world. The craftsmanship is extraordinary even by modern standards: the figure is about 31cm tall, and the level of detail and abstraction involved suggests that whoever carved it had both conceptual sophistication and considerable technical skill.
The figurine is displayed in the permanent collection of the Ulm Museum alongside other remarkable finds from the Swabian Alb's Palaeolithic caves, several of which are now UNESCO World Heritage Sites. The original is small — you can walk past it without realising its significance. Read the context before you visit.