Home » Lucerne, Switzerland

Lion Sculpture

30 April 2009 8 Comments

The Lion Monument in Lucerne is a giant dying lion carved out of a wall of sandstone rock above a pond. The monument designed by Thorwaldsen on then a private property, commemorates the heroic death of more than 700 mercenary soldiers from central Switzerland who lost their lives while serving the French king Louis XVI during the French Revolution. In 1882 the monument was bought by city of Lucerne.

The dying lion of Lion Monument

The giant sculpture is 20 ft high and 33 ft long and one of Lucerne’s major tourist attractions. The latin inscription HELVETIORUM FIDEI AC VIRTUTI means “To the loyalty and bravery of the Swiss”.

There is no entrance fee to see this.

Note:- The photo is from a film camera. And while scanning I have zoomed in but you can still see some water at the bottom.

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8 Comments »

  • marina k. villatoro said:

    Before reading the post, I just looked at the picture and knew I’ve been there before. I like to do that with photo posts, first look at the picture to see if I’ve been there. And I have over 15 years ago. And it looks as majestic now as it did then!

    # 1 May 2009 at 7:40 AM
  • Neeraj said:

    Isn’t this monument overrated? There’s so much better in India (eg. Ajanta and Elora caves).

    # 1 May 2009 at 9:19 AM
  • Author (author) said:

    Marina,
    Isn’t that a great feeling ? These pictures are the only thing which remind us of our sweet & sour experiences of these sojourns.

    And yes, I too do that and smile when I see a picture of a previously visited place.

    Neeraj,
    Welcome here.
    Well, why only Ajanta & Ellora ? There are so many… Elephanta caves and all old temples but this monument is not famous for sculpture but for the sacrifice done by soldiers like we have Amar Jawan Jyoti at India gate or Jalianwala bagh.

    Thanks for your visit, keep coming.

    # 1 May 2009 at 10:04 AM
  • thyme said:

    Can you imagine the responsability the carver had… so much work to prepare for the actual statue end each cut has to be right, nothing can be redone!

    # 2 May 2009 at 3:51 PM
  • Trotter said:

    Hi Cuckoo! Always a great pleasure to come here! And furthermore seeing your Swiss memories…

    Blogtrotter is still turning around Vilnius. Enjoy and have a great Sunday!

    # 3 May 2009 at 3:01 PM
  • PN Subramanian said:

    The dying lion is really splendid.
    हमारे ब्लॉग रोल में आपको प्रविष्ट करने के बाद भी हम आप के ब्लॉग पर आ नहीं पाते. लगता है आपने जान बूझ कर कुछ घपला कर रखा है. हमेशा हमें error मेसेज ही मिलता है. आज हम ने ढूँढ ही लिया.

    # 3 May 2009 at 10:49 PM
  • Zhu said:

    I had never heard of it!

    It’s hard to imagine the size (even though you mentioned it). I must see that one day…

    # 5 May 2009 at 8:37 AM
  • ~vagabond~ said:

    Looks awesome…would love to see it up close someday.

    # 10 May 2009 at 6:39 PM

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