Karl XII (Charles XII of Sweden) - Stockholm, Sweden
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N 59° 19.802 E 018° 04.333
34V E 333439 N 6580463
Bronze statue of Karl XII (Charles XII of Sweden) known as “The Lion of the North” in the centre of a square named after him - Karl XII's torg.
Waymark Code: WMCXRP
Location: Stockholm, Sweden
Date Posted: 10/23/2011
Views: 58
This monument to Karl XII (Charles XII of Sweden), is located in Kungsträdgården, Stockholm. The bronze statue made by Johan Peter Molin was inaugurated for the 150th anniversary of the king's death on November 30, 1868.
Karl XII (Charles XII of Sweden) (17 June 1682 – 30 November 1718) was the King of the Swedish Empire from 1697 to 1718. Charles was the only surviving son of King Charles XI of Sweden and Ulrika Eleonora the Elder, he assumed the crown after a seven-month caretaker government at the age of fifteen.
Charles XII, known as “The Lion of the North” a title he shares with Gustavus Adolphus, spent his whole regime on the battlefield defending the Swedish Empire from a threefold attack made by Denmark, Poland and Russia. In the beginning the brave young Charles was very successful on the battlefield but after 9 years of constant warfare he meet his superior, Peter the Great of Russia, in Poltava. On the 27th of June 1709 the Swedish army, marching towards Moscow, was annihilated and this marked the end of the age as Great Power for Sweden. However Charles managed to escape and after a couple of year in exile in the Ottoman Empire he returned to Sweden just to start a new war against Norway. In his second attempt to conquer Norway, in 1918, he finally meet his fate. Just like Gustavus Adolphus Charles died when his head was penetrated by a projectile. His death is surrounded by uncertainty and it have been suggested that he was murdered by his own men that had grown tired of Charles endless warfare. however it’s most likely that he was hit by a Norwegian bullet. Charles never got married and had no children therefore he was succeeded on the throne of Sweden by his younger sister Ulrika Eleonora.
The monument to Charles XII is made by Johan Peter Molin. Charles points towards east and Russia that always been Sweden’s archrival. Actually there is a popular story among military that “The enemy always comes from east”. In the monument Charles is surrounded by four mortars made in Dresden. The Mortars looks very alike pots and the swedish word for pot, kruka, is synonymous for coward. So the monument is sometimes ironically called “Lejonet omgiven av fyra krukor”, translated to English that would be “The lion surrounded by four cowards.
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