Löwendenkmal

The Löwendenkmal, or Lion Monument, is a large relief of a dying lion carved directly into a sandstone cliff face in the Löwenplatz district of Lucerne, Switzerland. It commemorates the Swiss Guards killed during the storming of the Tuileries Palace in Paris on 10 August 1792, during the French Revolution, when roughly 600 guardsmen died defending King Louis XVI. The design was drawn by the Danish sculptor Bertel Thorvaldsen, and the carving was carried out by Lukas Ahorn, a stonemason from Konstanz, and unveiled in 1821. The lion, about 10 metres long and 6 metres high, lies impaled by a broken spear, one paw resting on a shield bearing the fleur-de-lis of the French monarchy, while a second shield displays the Swiss cross. Above the relief, the Latin inscription Helvetiorum fidei ac virtuti, meaning to the loyalty and bravery of the Swiss, honours the men, and below it are the names of the officers and the number of soldiers who died or survived. The monument is set in a quiet rock quarry garden with a small pond in front that reflects the sculpture. Funds were raised in part by Karl Pfyffer von Altishofen, an officer of the Guards who survived because he was on leave in Lucerne. The sculpture is protected as a Swiss heritage site, and a conservation programme has addressed weathering of the sandstone in recent decades. Mark Twain called it the saddest and most moving piece of stone in the world. There is no museum interior or guided structure; visitors view the monument from the pond-side terrace and the surrounding garden at their own pace. The Gletschergarten and the Bourbaki Panorama are immediately adjacent.