Aspects of Death – Curiosities III - Lion Monument in Lucerne

Löwendenkmal

A little way north of Löwenplatz, to the rear of the pool, is the famous Lion Monument (Löwendenkmal), a huge figure of a dying lion hewn from the face of the living rock. The monument (1820-21), designed by Thorwaldsen, commemorates the heroic death of the Swiss Guards (26 officers and over 700 troops) who were killed during the attack on the Tuileries during the French Revolution (1792).

Bertel Thorvaldsen's famous carving of a dying lion (the Lion Monument, or Löwendenkmal) is found in a small park just off Lowenplatz. The carving commemorates the hundreds of Swiss Guards who were massacred in 1792 during the French Revolution, when the mob stormed the Tuileries Palace in Paris.