Lion monument
A dying lion cut into rock, and a hush visitors keep without being told to.
The Lion Monument is carved directly into a sandstone quarry wall in the English Garden, a few minutes north of Löwenplatz. Bertel Thorvaldsen designed the dying lion in 1820; the stonemason Lukas Ahorn spent roughly a year cutting it into the rock face above a small pond.
It commemorates the Swiss Guards killed on 10 August 1792 while defending the Tuileries Palace in Paris, as revolutionaries stormed the residence of Louis XVI. A broken lance lies under the lion's paw beside a shield bearing the fleur-de-lis, and the Latin inscription above reads Helvetiorum Fidei ac Virtuti, to the loyalty and courage of the Swiss.
Mark Twain, visiting in 1880, called it the saddest and most moving piece of rock in the world. Ten panels along the pond explain the history, and the park stays open year-round, free of charge.
Usually visited together
More in Lucerne
Applause fading into the stillness of the lake outside.
Brass and folk tunes drifting across still water as the light over Pilatus turns from gold to grey.
Water so still even the rowers call it the lake of the gods.
Bare feet, lake, sand, and the Alps standing quietly across the water.