After visiting Zurich, I drove to the next destination that I had on my list: I had to get to the heart of Switzerland: Luzern. Due to the schedule that I was on, and the amount of time that I (already) spend on each location, I knew I had to cut some places off as I calculated too little time. I learned quite a bunch from this road trip, and it helped me to plan more precise trips that I had in the future. While I wanted to check out more of the city of Luzern itself, I really wanted to see this stunning monument with my own eyes.
The Dying Lion of Luzern
Whether you're talking about "The Lion of Luzern" or "The Dying Lion of Luzern", everybody in Switzerland knows what you're referring to. A huge 3-meter high, and 2.5-meter-wide sculpture that was carved out of natural rock in the 19th century. If you'd ask me: the photographs don't do it enough justice and if you have the chance, please make sure to visit this monument.
The monument was easy to access by foot, and it was packed with a lot of people that wanted to take a photograph of the beautiful lion. It's no wonder that it's packed because visiting the monument is free. I claimed my spot and took a few moments to photograph it. While I was photographing, another tourist came to me and talked about the Lion, and asked me questions. If I knew what the name was of the statue, was and why just a few would refer to it as "The un-dying Lion of Luzern" as well.
Of course, I had no clue, but I did know it was called "The Lion of Luzern", so I was curious for him to answer that question. His theory was that if you looked closely at the lion, who resembled the loyalty and bravery of the Swiss Royal Guard, that protected the Royal Family during the French Revolution, you could see that you can't tell if the lion had its eyes open or closed. He told me that this was the sculptor's vision when he was finishing the eyes of the lion. I will let you decide for yourself when you look closely at the head of the lion. Ask yourself, is it dead, or is it still in pain, therefore, dying, whilst not dead, undead?
It may be a far-fetched throw, or I completely remember it wrong (it has been a while lol). This sculpture looks realistic, and you can feel the pain of the lion when you look at it.
The surrounding area hits hard when you're there. During the planning of the trip I thought; yeah, let's visit that Lion, it looks awesome! But once I got there, I felt a feeling of sadness and grief, while catching the feelings of how proud and honored the people must have felt for such a tragic loss of people who were killed during the French Revolution.
Even though it was packed with people, it was really quiet in a respectful way.
Would you visit old monuments?
The reason why I visit these old statutes, buildings, and monuments, is because I always have loved (ancient) history, I wanted to be an archeologist when I was a kid, but clearly, that didn't work out when I was going to college as I started to study for Sports. Oh well. Sometimes, I feel this emptiness inside of me, a hunger to think and reflect straight to the past. How much we can learn from the past is brilliant, as history often tends to repeat itself.
I hope you enjoyed these photographs of the undying lion of Luzern!
Cheers,
Ruben