ИСТИНА

At all times people sought to seek patronage creating zoomorphic advocates. Such images of animals date back to the totem animals of antiquity, but by the eighteenth century, they had already changed into stereotypically perceived symbols enshrined in language and emblems. Different nations have chosen a representative animal, which was a carrier of some assigned to him and desired qualities. For the Netherland it was a lion, which was a national symbol for other European countries as well. The lion was used as symbol of courage and nobility. The lion can be called the auto-image of the Netherlands, which was actively promoted in the eighteenth century outside the Netherlands. It was also known in Russia. But the concepts of the Dutch and the Russian lions do not quite match. Using the conceptual analysis of the image of lion in Russian language in the eighteenth century and the book Symbols and emblems, printed by decree of Peter the Great in Amsterdam in the same period, we would judge the perception of the Netherlands in Russia at that time.