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The Lion Monument (German: Löwendenkmal), or the Lion of Lucerne, is a rock relief in Lucerne, Switzerland, designed by Bertel Thorvaldsen and hewn in 1820–21 by Lukas Ahorn. It commemorates the Swiss Guards who were massacred in 1792 during the French Revolution, when revolutionaries stormed the Tuileries Palace in Paris. It is one of the most famous monuments in Switzerland, visited annually by about 1.4 million tourists.[1] In 2006, it was placed under Swiss monument protection.[2]

Lion Monument

Löwendenkmal
Coordinates	47°03′30″N 8°18′38″E
Location	Lucerne, Switzerland
Designer	Bertel Thorvaldsen
Type	Memorial
Material	Sandstone
Completion date	1821

Mark Twain praised the sculpture of a mortally wounded lion as "the most mournful and moving piece of stone in the world."[3]

Background

From the early 17th century, a regiment of Swiss Guards had served as part of the Royal Household of France. On 6 October 1789, King Louis XVI had been forced to move with his family from the Palace of Versailles to the Tuileries Palace in Paris. In June 1791 he tried to flee to Montmédy near the frontier, where troops under royalist officers were concentrated. In the 1792 10th of August Insurrection, revolutionaries stormed the palace. Fighting broke out spontaneously after the Royal Family had been escorted from the Tuileries to take refuge with the Legislative Assembly. The Swiss Guards ran low on ammunition and were overwhelmed by superior numbers. A note written by the King half an hour after firing had commenced has survived, ordering the Swiss to retire and return to their barracks.[4] Delivered in the middle of the fighting, this was only acted on after their position had become untenable.[5]

Around 760 of the Swiss Guards defending the Tuileries were killed during the fighting[6] or massacred after surrender.[7] An estimated two hundred more died in prison of their wounds or were killed during the September Massacres that followed.[8] Apart from about a hundred Swiss who escaped from the Tuileries, the only survivors of the regiment were a 300 strong detachment which, with the King's authorization, had been sent to Normandy to escort grain convoys a few days before August 10.[9] The Swiss officers were mostly amongst those massacred, although Major Karl Josef von Bachmann — in command at the Tuileries — was formally tried and guillotined in September, still wearing his red uniform of the Guard. Two surviving Swiss officers achieved senior rank under Napoleon.[9]

Among the Swiss Guards in France who survived the insurrection and soldiers from disbanded Swiss line regiments, about 350 later joined the Revolutionary Armies of the French Republic, while others joined the counter-revolutionaries in the War in the Vendée. In 1817, the Swiss Federal Diet awarded 389 of the survivors with the commemorative medal Treue und Ehre (Loyalty and Honor).[10]

Memorial

The initiative to create the monument was taken by Karl Pfyffer von Altishofen, an officer of the Guards who had been on leave in Lucerne at that time of the fight. He began collecting money in 1818. The monument was funded by a number of European Royal houses.[6] It was designed by Danish sculptor Bertel Thorvaldsen, and hewn in 1820–21 by stonemason Lukas Ahorn, in a former sandstone quarry near Lucerne. At the time of its creation it also received criticism, as some were displeased that a monument was being built to Swiss citizens dying for a foreign monarchy, and a group of Swiss liberals even planned to saw off one of the lion's paws in protest.[6]

The monument is dedicated Helvetiorum Fidei ac Virtuti ("To the loyalty and bravery of the Swiss"). Carved into the cliff face, the monument measures ten metres in length and six metres in height. The dying lion is portrayed impaled by a spear, covering a shield bearing the fleur-de-lis of the French monarchy; beside him is another shield bearing the coat of arms of Switzerland. The inscription below the sculpture lists the names of the officers and gives the approximate numbers of soldiers who died (DCCLX = 760), and survived (CCCL = 350).[11]

Mark Twain on the monument

The Lion lies in his lair in the perpendicular face of a low cliff—for he is carved from the living rock of the cliff. His size is colossal, his attitude is noble. His head is bowed, the broken spear is sticking in his shoulder, his protecting paw rests upon the lilies of France. Vines hang down the cliff and wave in the wind, and a clear stream trickles from above and empties into a pond at the base, and in the smooth surface of the pond the lion is mirrored, among the water-lilies.

Around about are green trees and grass. The place is a sheltered, reposeful woodland nook, remote from noise and stir and confusion—and all this is fitting, for lions do die in such places, and not on granite pedestals in public squares fenced with fancy iron railings. The Lion of Lucerne would be impressive anywhere, but nowhere so impressive as where he is.

— Mark Twain, A Tramp Abroad, 1880

References in literature

The monument is described by Thomas Carlyle in The French Revolution: A History (1837).[12]

In The Chalet School Does It Again (1955) Elinor Brent-Dyer describes the monument, its history and the associated chapel.

In Robert Heinlein's 1959 novel Starship Troopers the Order of the Wounded Lion is the highest military decoration conferred, on par with the Victoria Cross.

In The Lions of Lucerne (2002) author Brad Thor describes the monument and the Swiss Guard it commemorates.

In her New Yorker tribute "My Buddy" (2017), Patti Smith reflects upon the death of Sam Shepard while standing in front of and addressing the monument.

See also

• List of colossal sculptures in situ

Notes

External links

• Lion Monument, Lucerne, All About Switzerland travelguide. Retrieved on 2008-08-08.
• Dying Lion (The Lucerne Lion), The Thorvaldsen's Museum archives. Retrieved on 04-08-2017.
• Infopoints in the park of the Lion Monument in Lucerne.

На других языках

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[de] Löwendenkmal Luzern

Das Löwendenkmal befindet sich im Zentrum Luzerns und erinnert in der Allegorie eines sterbenden Löwen an die am 10. August 1792 beim Tuileriensturm in Paris gefallenen Schweizergardisten. Die Einweihung des aus einem Sandsteinfelsen herausgehauenen, etwa zehn mal sechs Meter grossen Denkmals fand am Jahrestag 1821 statt. Es ist eines der bekanntesten Denkmäler der Schweiz, jährlich wird es von etwa 1,4 Millionen Touristen besucht.[1] 2006 wurde es unter Schweizer Denkmalschutz gestellt.[2]

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- [en] Lion Monument

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[es] Monumento del León (Lucerna)

El Monumento del León (en alemán: Löwendenkmal), también conocido como el León de Lucerna o León herido de Lucerna, es una escultura labrada entre 1819 y 1821 por el escultor danés Bertel Thorvaldsen sobre una pared de roca de la ciudad de Lucerna en Suiza para conmemorar la muerte en 1792 de unos 760 mercenarios de la Guardia Suiza durante la Revolución francesa cuando se defendían del asalto de los revolucionarios al Palacio de las Tullerías en París, Francia.

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[it] Leone di Lucerna

Il Leone di Lucerna (Löwendenkmal Luzern in lingua tedesca) è un monumento della città svizzera, progettato da Bertel Thorvaldsen e scolpito da Lukas Ahorn nel biennio 1820-1821. Commemora il sacrificio delle Guardie svizzere massacrate nel 1792, durante i torbidi della Rivoluzione francese, quando i rivoluzionari presero d'assalto il Palazzo delle Tuileries a Parigi, episodio che determinò la caduta della monarchia di Luigi XVI (v. Giornata del 10 agosto 1792).

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[ru] Умирающий лев

Умирающий лев — всемирно известная скульптурная композиция, созданная по эскизу Бертеля Торвальдсена в швейцарском городе Люцерн. Посвящена доблести швейцарских гвардейцев, павших при сопротивлении штурму дворца Тюильри в день восстания 10 августа 1792 года.

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