Lion Monument, Glacier Garden & Bourbaki Panorama

The story

The dying lion was carved into the rock of an old sandstone quarry in 1820-21 by Lukas Ahorn, to a design by the Danish sculptor Bertel Thorvaldsen. It honours the Swiss Guards who died defending King Louis XVI at the Tuileries Palace in Paris on 10 August 1792. Mark Twain called it "the saddest and most moving piece of rock in the world". Two museums stand right beside it. In the Glacier Garden, found in 1872 by Josef Wilhelm Amrein-Troller, you see giant potholes that the glacier drilled into the rock about 20,000 years ago. In the Bourbaki Panorama, a round painting 112 m long, Edouard Castres shows 87,000 French soldiers of General Bourbaki's army crossing into Switzerland in the winter of 1871 to be interned; it was painted in 1881 and has been in Lucerne since 1889.

Key facts

• Lion Monument: carved 1820-21, free, open day and night. The inscription means "To the loyalty and bravery of the Swiss".
• Glacier Garden: daily 10:00-18:00 (Apr-Oct), 10:00-17:00 (Nov-Mar); adults CHF 24, students/seniors CHF 18, children 6-16 CHF 12.
• Bourbaki Panorama: daily 10:00-18:00 (Apr-Oct), 10:00-17:00 (Nov-Mar); adults CHF 15, reduced CHF 12, children 6-16 CHF 7.

Good to know

Lion Monument free. Glacier Garden (Denkmalstrasse 4) and Bourbaki Panorama (Löwenplatz 11) are paid museums; allow about an hour for each. Prices as of October 2026.