Brunswick Monument - Geneva, Switzerland
Posted by: denben
N 46° 12.501 E 006° 08.948
32T E 280084 N 5121148
The Brunswick Monument is a replica of the Scaliger Tombs built in the 14th century in Verona.
Waymark Code: WMJV5V
Location: Genève, Switzerland
Date Posted: 01/01/2014
Views: 15
The Brunswick Monument is a mausoleum built in 1879 in Geneva to commemorate the life of Charles II, Duke of Brunswick. This Neo-Gothic mausoleum facing Lake Léman is a replica of the Scaliger tombs built in the 14th century in Verona for the lords of the city and rebuilt in Geneva by the City Council for the Duke of Brunswick.
Charles d’Este Guelph, Duke of Brunswick, linguist, musician and horseman, was an eccentric. The German Duke, born in 1804, was driven out of his duchy of Braunschweig in 1830. He exiled himself to several European cities. After making a fortune in Paris, he came to Geneva. He died in 1873, leaving his enormous fortune to the city provided it staged a grandiose funeral and built a monument in his name. Never before had a mausoleum been built in Geneva. No wonder the project gave rise to heated debates! It was built finally in the Jardin des Alpes, the former port of the Pâquis district.
The Scaliger Tombs (Italian: Arche scaligere) is a group of five Gothic funerary monuments in Verona, Italy, celebrating the Scaliger family, who ruled in Verona from the 13th to the late 14th century.
The tombs are located in a court of the church of Santa Maria Antica, separated from the street by a wall with iron grilles. Built in Gothic style, they are a series of tombs, most of which are in the shape of a small temple and covered by a baldachin. According to the French historian Georges Duby, they are one of the most outstanding examples of Gothic art.
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