Lion Monument

Monument

Monument · Lucerne, Switzerland 47.0584°N 8.3109°E

Why you should go

Ninety seconds on the Lion Monument

Time needed

15 to 30 minutesPlus the walk up

Best time

Any timeNo opening hours

Cost

FreeNo ticket needed

Effort

Walk or busFrom station or old town

Access

Wheelchair accessListed by the city

Guide

Not neededGo on your own

Getting there

How to get to the Lion Monument?

Lucerne station and the old town are each about 15 minutes away on foot. By bus, lines 1 and 19 leave the station for Loewenplatz, the nearest stop. The city rates the site as wheelchair accessible.

Admission

Is there an entry fee for the Lion Monument?

There is no entry fee and no ticket. The monument can be visited on any day of the year, and ten information boards in German and English stand beside the pool.

Time needed

How long does a visit to the Lion Monument take?

The monument itself takes 15 to 30 minutes to see. Stand at the pond in front of the rock face to look at the carving directly. The neighbouring Glacier Garden needs one to two hours on its own.

What it honours

What does the Lion Monument commemorate?

It is a memorial to the Swiss Guards killed in Paris in 1792, when the Tuileries was stormed. The design is by Bertel Thorvaldsen, and the carving was hewn in 1820 and 1821. The dying lion shelters the royal lilies of France.

Glacier Garden

Can the Lion Monument be combined with the Glacier Garden?

Yes. The Glacier Garden is the next-door neighbour and the usual pairing, with its own ticket. Meltwater carved its potholes about 20,000 years ago, in the last ice age, and its walk ends at a viewpoint looking over the city towards the mountains.

Mark Twain called it the most mournful and moving piece of stone in the world, and you will see why. Cut into a Lucerne cliff over a still pool, a lion lies dying with a spear in its back, still guarding the lilies of France.

What makes it special

The grotto is ten metres long and six high, set into the cliff of a small park. Look at the paw: the shield under it carries the fleur-de-lis of the French kings, and the lion's bowed head rests over it.

The carving honours the Swiss Guards who died defending the French king at the Tuileries in 1792, and the shield beside the lion carries the Swiss arms. Thorvaldsen designed it, and it was cut into the rock in 1820 and 1821.

Above the lion the Latin reads Helvetiorum Fidei ac Virtuti, to the loyalty and bravery of the Swiss. An inscription below lists the names of the officers who died at the Tuileries. Read both before you leave, because they are easy to miss from across the water.

Visiting

From the far side of the pool you take in the whole carving at once, with the lion mirrored in the still water among the water-lilies. Stay there a few minutes before walking round to the information panels.

Ten interpretation panels, in German and English, explain the history and what the monument has meant since; scan the QR code on them for French or Italian. Chapel Bridge or Bourbaki Panorama rounds out a day here.

Then go next door to the Glacier Garden, which has its own ticket and needs one to two hours. Its potholes were worn into the rock by meltwater about 20,000 years ago, and the route leads through dark passages, past an underground lake and a maze of 90 mirrors to a view over Lucerne and the Alps.

Tips

If a tour group is at the pool when you arrive, read the panels first and come back to the water once it moves on. Keep your Lucerne Guest Card on you for the Glacier Garden, where it earns a discount on admission. The lion is a memorial to the dead, so keep your voice down by the water.

Know before you goThe monument is freely open all year round, while the Glacier Garden next door keeps seasonal hours of its own.