The statues of the lions were dedicated to the Sanctuary of Apollo at the end of the 7th c. or early in the 6th c. BCE. The lions stood as guardians of the Sacred Lake and the Sanctuary. Only five of the lions remain (the number of original lions ranges between nine and nineteen). Today, the statues on the original site have been replaced with replicas. The original marble sculptures are sheltered inside the Archaeological Museum of Delos to protect them from further erosion.