Located in Braine-l’Alleud, Belgium, the Lion’s Mound is a large conical (and artificial) hill with a lion statue at the peak that commemorates the location on the battlefield of Waterloo where a musket ball struck William II of the Netherlands (the Prince of Orange) in the shoulder. It is also a memorial of the Battle of Quatre Bras, which had been fought two days earlier, on 16 June 1815 [source]. Today, the surrounding area is used to cultivate beets.
The hill offers a vista of the battlefield, and is the anchor point of the associated museums and taverns in the surrounding Lion’s Hamlet. Visitors who pay a fee may climb up the Mound’s 226 steps, which lead to the statue and its surrounding overlook (where there are maps documenting the battle, along with observation telescopes). [source]
A statue of a lion standing upon a stone-block pedestal surmounts the hill. Jean-François Van Geel (1756–1830) sculpted the model lion, which closely resembles the 16th-century Medici lions. The lion is the heraldic beast on the personal coat of arms of the monarch of The Netherlands, and symbolizes courage. [source]
from TwistedSifter http://ift.tt/1EHuOwQ
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