War Memorial, Düsseldorf

The war memorial created by the Düsseldorf sculptor Karl Hilgers (1844-1925) stands on the landscaped remains of the former city fortifications in the central Düsseldorf Hofgarten. Inaugurated on 18^th October 1892, the monument is dedicated to the fallen Düsseldorf soldiers of the German unification wars (1864-1866) and the Franco-Prussian War (1870-1871). The raw block of Lasa marble from which the monument is made originally weighed 27 tonnes. The weight of the lying warrior alone is 9 to 10 tonnes. The figure is 3.50 meters long, 1.80 meters high and 1.54 meters wide. The monument stands on a pedestal in the shape of an exedra, the semicircle of which is bordered by a parapet. The monumental statuary reaches a total height of 6 metres. In the middle of the scene shows the classicistic memorial, in semi-recumbent position, the resting figure of a young dying warrior on a sarcophagus. In his right chest a stab wound can be seen. Sitting in front of the sarcophagus is a lion, the heraldic animal of the city of Düsseldorf and a symbolic attribute for courage and strength. The monument was restored in 2007.