The Bavarian lion

  

Close to the old cemetery of Nafplio (37.56609,22.811353), this romantic town of the Eastern Peloponnese and first capital of the newborn Greek state, lies this sad, sleeping or wounded lion. It is sculpted on the rock by order of Ludwig of Bavaria, father of the then King of Greece, Otto. It was made in memory of the Bavarian soldiers who died in Nafplio by typhus. Some claim that they got the disease by eating ripe cucumbers, so it is sometimes referred to as αγγουρώον instead of Ηρώον.

cookie 1. The Sculptor, Christian Siegel from Germany, was the first professor of this Art in the National Technical University of Athens (back then "Royal School of Arts", serving not only the technology but also the fine arts)

cookie 2. For our non greek-speaking friends: Ηρώον (Hero_on) is a monument erected in memory of a large group who died during in a specific war period or a specific event. Αγγουρώον (Agooro_on) is a pun of this word with the greek word for cucumber, αγγούρι.