Description
The mournful Lion Monument of Lucerne that commemorates the Swiss Guards who were massacred in 1792 during the French Revolution. The Lion Monument was designed by Bertel Thorvaldsen (1770-1884), a classicist Danish sculptor in 1819 while he stayed in Rome, Italy. Lucas Ahorn (1789-1856), a stone-mason from Constance (southern Germany) actually carved it out of the sandstone rock in 1820/1821. The Lion Monument was inaugurated on August 10, 1821. Originally the site was private property. In 1882 the city of Lucerne bought it. The site is open to the public and accessible without an entrance fee. The monument soon became one of Lucerne's major tourist attractions.