The Lion of Bavaria - Nafplio, Greece
N 37° 33.994 E 022° 48.687
34S E 659978 N 4159268
This impressive, yet sleepy Lion of Bavaria is located in Nafplio, Greece.
Waymark Code: WM32QR
Location: Greece
Date Posted: 01/31/2008
Views: 104
We found the following information about the Lion of Bavaria at the website listed below: "In Michael Iatrou Street between the church of Aghii Pandes and the modern graveyard, the visitor will find an exceptional monument, one of the most important of 19th century Greece, known as the lion of Bavaria, which dates from 1840-1841. The lion, which is carved into the rock on a monumental scale, seems to be sleeping. The sculptor of this beautiful monument was the German, Christian Siegel, who was the first professor of sculpture at Athens Polytechnic. The model for the work was the Lion of Lucerne, by the famous Danish sculpture, Bertel Thorwaldsen. Below the lion there is an inscription in German that informs us that this monument was commissioned by Ludwig of Bavaria, father of Otto first King of Greece, in memory of the Bavarian soldiers in Otto's escort who died during the typhoid epidemic in Nafplio which devastated the area between 1833 and 1834. The Bavarians were buried in the graveyard Aghii Pantes and in an area northeast of Evaggelistria which became known as the "Bavarian monuments". Later, their bones were exhumed and were taken to the crypt of Nafplio's Catholic Church. Today, the area in front of the Lion of Bavaria has been turned into a small park with benches, to provide a place to rest during a tour of the city."
We discovered this impressive lion on March 29, 2006, while touring around Greece with Panos (our taxi driver that day). We actually stopped here to try to find the
Nauplion Nafp-Lion geocache, which we didn't find unfortunately, but we had a great time looking at the lion!