Photo of the Week: The Lion of Lucerne

The Lion of Lucerne was a brief but welcome stop for our group while we were on our way to Mt. Pilatus. It was my first time hearing of this monument and the story behind it. While the story is rather depressing, it speaks of bravery and courage of the Swiss Army.

During the early 17th century, a regiment of Swiss mercenaries served as part of the Royal Household of France. In October 1789, King Louis XVI was forced from the Palace of Versailles to the Tuileries Palace in Paris. In August 1792 revolutionaries attacked the palace. Fighting broke out and the Swiss began running low on ammunition. The army was overwhelmed by the mass amount of revolutionaries and many Swiss mercenaries lost their lives.

During the fight, more than 600 mercenaries were killed and even more were murdered afterwards in the massacres that followed. A note written by the King has survived, which had ordered the Swiss to retire and return to their barracks, but the Swiss only followed the orders after their position was no longer needed. They had stayed to protect the King at all costs, which costs them over 700 hundred lives of the Swiss army.

Written above the lion is Helvetiorum Fidei ac Virtuti which means "To the Loyalty and Bravery of the Swiss." The inscription below lists the names of the officers and the numbers of men who died and survived. Only about 350 men survived.