Lion of Belfort
The Lion of Belfort is a monumental stone sculpture 21.5 meters long and 10.7 meters high and a symbol of the French city of Belfort . The sculpture is made of brick blocks of red sandstone that were quarried in a quarry in the municipality of Pérouse .
The lion commemorates Belfort's resistance under Colonel Denfert-Rochereau during the 103-day siege of Belfort in the Franco-Prussian War from November 3, 1870 to February 13, 1871. The lion on the hill at the Belfort citadel was designed by Frédéric Auguste Bartholdi made of red Vosges sandstone.
In December 1871, during the German occupation, the city council decided to erect a memorial to commemorate the victims of the recent siege. Originally a simple memorial stone or pillar was to be placed on the cemetery grounds, but Bartholdi submitted a design of a monumental stone lion, "terrifying in its furious frenzy," which was eventually adopted. First the lion should look in the direction of the enemy, which was refrained from due to German protests, so that he now looks towards the west.
Construction of the sculpture lasted from 1875 to 1880, funded by a national fundraiser. Due to disagreements between the artist and the city of Belfort, there was no official inauguration. On August 28, 1880, the artist initiated and financed a ceremonial lighting of his work. The lion monument soon became a symbol of the city and on April 20, 1930 it was classified as a " monument historique ". Every year around 60,000 people visit the monument up close and look out over the city of resistance from the small terrace in front of it.
A scaled-down replica made of copper stands in Paris on Place Denfert-Rochereau .
literature
- Cámeléon (conception): Le Lion de Belfort , (leaflet, in three languages) undated
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ Le Lion de Belfort. Conseil général du Territoire de Belfort, accessed on October 28, 2011 (French).
Coordinates: 47 ° 38 ′ 12 " N , 6 ° 51 ′ 53" E