The Lion of Belfort... by KarmaSong

Photography • Historical • posted on May 25, 2009

Open full image in new tab Zoom on image

Hover over top left image to zoom.
Click anywhere to exit.

Members remain the original copyright holder in all their materials here at Renderosity. Use of any of their material inconsistent with the terms and conditions set forth is prohibited and is considered an infringement of the copyrights of the respective holders unless specially stated otherwise.

Description

The Lion of Belfort is a sculpture by FrÃ©dÃ©ric Bartholdi, sculptor of the Statue of Liberty in New York, and located in Belfort, France. It was finished in 1880 and is entirely made of red sandstone. The blocks it is made from were individually sculpted then moved under Belfort castle to be assembled. The sculpture is 22 meters long and 11 meters high and dominates the local landscape. The lion symbolizes the heroic resistance of my hometown during a 103 day-long Prussian assault (from December 1870 to February 1871). The city was protected from 40,000 Prussians by merely 17,000 men (only 3,500 were from the military) led by Colonel Denfert-Rochereau.

En 1879, le sculpteur Auguste Bartholdi taille dans le grès rouge de la falaise un lion blessé et rugissant afin d'honorer la résistance de Belfort et de son gouverneur (le lion tourne le dos à l'Allemagne pour éviter toute provocation). Ce "Lion de Belfort" mesure 22 mètres de long et 11 mètres de haut. Il est devenu le symbole de la ville.

Thank you very much for your nice comments on my previous photo. Have a nice week under the sun...

Best viewed full-size...

Comments (71)

)

Richardphotos

9:32PM | Mon, 08 June 2009

amazing sculpture and capture .there is a huge lion near Baguio,Philippines but this one is much more beautiful

)

tennesseecowgirl

9:07AM | Tue, 09 June 2009

Very amazing....

)

zoren

9:50AM | Thu, 11 June 2009

heroic lion for a heroic past, nice image..

tpx1

10:25AM | Thu, 11 June 2009

very nice capture

)

pops

11:12AM | Thu, 11 June 2009

Incredible photo and artwork

)

katy555

5:58AM | Mon, 15 June 2009

Fantastic capture my friend .Exceptional lighting...

)

Marinette

2:55PM | Mon, 15 June 2009

Great perspective and photo!!!:)

)

billcody

5:36PM | Tue, 16 June 2009

Thanks for your information, Jean Luc! This is very helpful. A great capture. Must be a great place. The prussians, you said? Hmmh, I´m a prussian, too. Shame on me!

)