The Brunswick Monument is a neo-Gothic style mausoleum that was built on the Quai du Mont-Blanc in Geneva. Why is this important? Never before has a mausoleum been built in Geneva!
At the death of Charles II, the Duke of Brunswick, in 1873, the city of Geneva found itself to be the universal legatee of his huge fortune, estimated at 24 million Swiss Francs, two million of which later were expended on the monument. In his will, Charles requested a mausoleum to be built “in a prominent position and worthy”, and that it should imitate the style of the 14th-century Scaliger Tombs in Verona.
The monument stands on a platform 65 meters long and 25 meters wide. The entrance is guarded by two huge lions on pedestals. The gothic canopy is composed of three levels: The one in the middle, shelters a marble sarcophagus where the duke has been embalmed and put to rest. On the side, a sealed bi contains an engraved stone and two little lockets holding hairs from the grandfather and the mother of the duke. All around are raised six statues of deceased ancestors, and the carved stone reliefs represent the duke of Brunswick and war fields (the crusades, the reformation, etc…). The second level is also occupied by some carved stone reliefs and statues depicting Christian virtues, the coat of arms of the duke or symbolic beads, and the coat of ancestor’s arms. At the top, the crowning arrow represents a lead vase containing the duke’s heart.
The monument is open all day. Entrance is free.
