Lion of Belfort: The Story Behind Bartholdi’s Famous Monument

The Lion of Belfort is not just a statue. It is a roar carved into stone.

Chosen as France’s favourite monument in 2020, this colossal lion has watched over the town of Belfort for well over a century. Half sculpture, half sentinel, it recalls one of the most dramatic chapters in the city’s history: the heroic resistance of Belfort during the Franco-Prussian War of 1870–71.

And if you have ever stood before it, you will know the feeling.

There it is, crouched beneath the citadel, enormous and silent, yet somehow full of movement. It does not need to roar. Its whole body says enough.

Belfort has always occupied a strategic position in eastern France.

The town commands the famous Belfort Gap, a natural corridor about 30 kilometres wide between the Vosges and the Jura Mountains. This passage links Alsace and Burgundy, the Rhine and Rhône basins, and some of the great routes of Europe.

In other words, Belfort has long stood exactly where history likes to pass through.

Which, as you can imagine, has been both a blessing and a curse.

The Strategic Belfort Gap

To understand the Lion of Belfort, we first need to look at the landscape.

Belfort lies at the heart of a natural passage known in French as the Trouée de Belfort (the Belfort Gap).

Depending on where you are coming from, it has also been called the Porte d’Alsace — the Gateway to Alsace — or the Porte de Bourgogne — the Gateway to Burgundy.

A gateway sounds charming, doesn’t it?

A place of movement, exchange, trade and encounters.

But gateways also attract armies. And Belfort’s geography made it one of those places where maps, borders and ambitions met rather too often.

For centuries, the city guarded a key route between the Germanic and Latin worlds. Whoever controlled Belfort controlled one of the easiest passages between the Rhine valley and eastern France.

That is why, when war broke out between France and Prussia in 1870, Belfort became a place of enormous strategic importance.

1870–71: Belfort’s Heroic Resistance

Today, the Territoire de Belfort is one of the smallest départements in France. But historically, Belfort belonged to Alsace.

More precisely, it formed part of the Haut-Rhin département.

So how did Belfort become separate from Alsace?

To answer that question, we have to return to the Franco-Prussian War.

In Belfort, the memory of the siege of 1870–71 has never really disappeared.

The city was defended by Colonel Pierre Philippe Denfert-Rochereau, who led a resistance so determined that Belfort is sometimes described as the “Verdun of 1870”.

The siege lasted 107 days, from 3 November 1870 to 18 February 1871.

That alone is extraordinary.

But the figures are even more striking. Around 17,700 French soldiers were entrenched inside the fortifications, facing a German army of about 40,000 men.

It is estimated that some 400,000 shells fell on the city, with peaks of up to 5,000 shells in a single day.

For the time, that was terrifying.

And yet Belfort did not fall.

While Paris had signed an armistice on 28 January 1871, Denfert-Rochereau and his men continued to resist.

It was only on 13 February that the French government ordered him to surrender the fortress and march out with his weapons and baggage.

This was not a defeat in the usual sense.

The defenders left with honour.

The Germans occupied Belfort and its surroundings until 1 August 1873, but the city had acquired something that no occupation could remove: a national reputation.

In just over a hundred days, Belfort had become a symbol of resistance, courage and hope.

At a time when France had lost Alsace and part of Lorraine to the German Empire, Belfort stood as a reminder that not everything had been taken.

The Lion of Belfort: Birth of a Monument

Even while the Prussians were still occupying the city, Belfort’s municipal council began to imagine a monument in memory of the victims of the siege.

The sculptor chosen for the project was Auguste Bartholdi.

That name may ring a bell.

Bartholdi was born in Colmar, in Alsace, and would later become world-famous as the creator of the Statue of Liberty. But before Liberty Enlightening the World rose in New York Harbour, Bartholdi gave Belfort a lion.

And not just any lion.

The monument was to be placed in a highly visible location, against the rock beneath the fortress. It was meant to become part of the city’s appearance — something not simply added to Belfort, but identified with it.

Bartholdi threw himself into the project with deep personal feeling. As an Alsatian, he saw the work as a patriotic duty, not as a commercial commission. He even refused payment for it.

In 1872, he described his vision: a colossal lion, harassed and cornered, yet still terrible in its fury.

That is exactly what he created.

The Lion of Belfort is not a triumphant lion standing proudly on a pedestal. It is not roaring from a throne of victory.

It is crouched. Wounded. Watchful.

But it is certainly not beaten.

Inspired by the Lion of Lucerne

Several sources suggest that Bartholdi may have been inspired by the Lion of Lucerne in Switzerland.

The Lion of Lucerne, carved in 1820–21, commemorates the Swiss Guards who died defending King Louis XVI during the storming of the Tuileries Palace in Paris in 1792. It shows a dying lion, pierced by a spear, in a moving expression of sacrifice and loyalty.

Bartholdi’s lion belongs to the same family of symbolic beasts.

But the mood is different.

The Lion of Lucerne is tragic.

The Lion of Belfort is defiant.

Bartholdi developed several versions of the project. In 1873, he proposed a lion lying down but beginning to rise, as though it had been overwhelmed for a moment by its enemies and was now preparing to spring back, stronger and more terrible than before.

That, to me, is the genius of the monument.

It captures a moment between pain and power.

The lion is not attacking.

Not yet.

But you would be very unwise to provoke it.

A Lion of Belfort Slightly Turned Away

Originally, Bartholdi’s lion was supposed to face east, towards the enemy.

But this was not exactly to the taste of Bismarck and the German authorities. Unsurprisingly, the idea of a gigantic stone lion glaring towards Germany did not go down particularly well.

Following German protests, the lion’s head was turned towards the west.

At first glance, that might seem like a concession. But look more closely, and the monument still has a powerful attitude of defiance. It may have its back turned to the former enemy, but there is something almost disdainful about that gesture.

“I do not even need to look at you,” it seems to say.

There is also a small detail often mentioned in connection with the statue: an arrow placed between the lion’s paws, supposedly pointing east towards Germany.

I have looked for it.

And, to be perfectly honest, the only arrow I could identify seemed to be pointing north.

So perhaps this is one of those delightful historical details that grows better in the telling than in the checking. A little poetic licence never hurt anyone — unless, of course, you are a very precise cartographer.

Long Works and No Grand Opening

A national subscription was launched in December 1873, and it met with great popular success.

But building a lion of this size was not exactly a quick job.

Work began in May 1876 and was completed in May 1880. The monument was carved from pink sandstone blocks taken from the quarries of Pérouse, a nearby commune. Each block was sculpted individually before being transported to the site and assembled beneath the citadel.

And then came the grand inauguration.

Except there wasn’t one.

The Lion of Belfort was never officially inaugurated, owing to a disagreement between the town and Bartholdi over the remaining funds from the national subscription.

A monumental statue, a national symbol, four years of work… and no official ceremony.

France does have a certain talent for turning administration into drama.

Yet, ceremony or no ceremony, the Lion quickly became the patriotic emblem of Belfort.

The Lion of Belfort: France’s Favourite Monument

The Lion of Belfort has been listed as a Historic Monument since 1931.

In 2020, it received a new burst of national recognition when it was chosen as Le Monument Préféré des Français — France’s favourite monument — in the television programme presented by Stéphane Bern on France 2.

The competition included some very serious contenders: the Villa Cavrois, the Canal du Midi, the Sainte-Chapelle in Paris…

And yet Belfort’s lion and citadel won.

Not bad for a giant stone cat tucked away beneath a fortress in eastern France.

But perhaps that is the point. The Lion of Belfort is not just beautiful. It carries a story. It speaks of endurance, borders, memory and national pride.

And people respond to that.

What Does the Lion of Belfort Look Like?

The Lion of Belfort is carved from reddish Vosges sandstone and rests against the rock beneath the castle.

It is immense: about 22 metres long and 11 metres high. It is often described as the largest stone statue in France.

Approaching it from the terrace below is quite an experience. You do not simply “look at” the Lion. You feel its presence.

Its mouth is slightly open, revealing threatening teeth.

Its head is proud, with a mane swept as if by the wind.

Its body is tense and curved, ready to spring.

Its right front paw holds the enemy arrow that failed to strike its target.

Its tail curls with almost royal dignity.

The whole sculpture has something Egyptian about it. Bartholdi was openly inspired by Egyptian statues, and the Lion’s monumental stillness recalls the sphinxes. It feels ancient, symbolic and almost timeless.

This is not merely a war memorial.

It is a guardian.

The Mystery of the Lion’s Tongue

Like many famous monuments, the Lion of Belfort has attracted its share of legends.

One of the best known concerns a rather surprising detail: the Lion supposedly has no tongue.

Which raises an obvious question.

How can a lion roar without a tongue?

A speechless lion facing the enemy — well, that does take some of the drama away.

The explanation usually given is that Bartholdi was inspired by Egyptian sphinxes, which do not have tongues. So perhaps, people said, the missing tongue was intentional.

But during restoration work in 2002, the truth emerged.

The Lion does, in fact, have a tongue.

So much for the legend.

Another, even more dramatic version claimed that Bartholdi, realising his terrible mistake, took his own life after completing the statue.

Nonsense.

Bartholdi died in Paris in 1904, many years after the Lion was finished.

Never let reality get in the way of a good local legend, apparently.

A 19th-Century Travel Blogger in Belfort

One of the most fascinating descriptions of the Lion comes from 1886, only a few years after the monument was completed.

It was written by Charles Grad, an Alsatian deputy in the German Reichstag, in his book À travers l’Alsace et la Lorraine.

Reading his description today is striking, because the view has changed surprisingly little.

Grad describes the fortress rising above the town, visible from the bridge over the Savoureuse. He imagines it like a vigilant sentinel watching over the passage entrusted to its care.

To any foreign invader tempted to cross the frontier again, the fortress seems to cry:

“No entry!”

And the gigantic Lion beneath the walls appears to raise its head in the same direction, repeating the command with a formidable roar:

“No entry!”

There is something almost cinematic in that description.

You can picture the scene: the citadel above, the city below, the mountain air, the shadow of recent war still present in the stones.

For Grad, the Lion symbolised the heroic resistance of Belfort during the siege. Bartholdi had used the dark, rugged setting of the castle as the natural pedestal for his monument. The lion rose from the wounded flanks of the citadel itself, as if the fortress had grown a living guardian.

No wonder travellers came to see it.

Some out of curiosity.

Others almost as pilgrims.

Visiting the Lion of Belfort Today

Today, you can admire the Lion of Belfort from several viewpoints across the city.

But the most impressive experience is to approach it from the platform at its feet. This allows you to stand close to the sculpture and appreciate its scale, details and expression.

From below, the Lion dominates you completely.

And that is as it should be.

It was designed to impress, to move and to remind.

Above all, it was designed to belong to Belfort.

The city and the Lion are now inseparable. You cannot really understand one without the other.

Belfort gave the Lion its story.

And the Lion gave Belfort its most powerful symbol.

More than a monument, it is a memory carved in stone — the memory of a city that endured, resisted and refused to be forgotten.

The Lion of Belfort in Paris and Montréal, Canada

A smaller 1/3 copy in bronze stands in the centre of Place Denfert-Rochereau in Paris.

There’s also a 1/10 replica in Dorchester Square, Montreal, Canada.

More info about the Lion of Belfort

• Our article about the History of Belfort
• The Lion’s replica in Place Denfert-Rochereau in Paris
• Read more about the Lion of Belfort on our French blog!
• The official website of the Tourist Board of Belfort.

The Lion of Belfort: Pin it for later

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Discover Belfort

Never been to Belfort? There’s quite a lot to discover in the surroundings. Check out my blog post: Belfort: 10 Must-See Sights in the City of the Lion!

Montbéliard

South of Belfort lies Montbéliard. The historic and industrial town is the birthplace of the Peugeot carmaker.

Haute-Alsace

The Sundgau a rural land east of Belfort. A beautiful area with rolling hills, fields, meadows and forests:

Check out the historic little town of Ferrette:

A view of the village of Hirtzbach in the Sundgau:

The historic square of Place de la Réunion in Mulhouse, Alsace:

Mulhouse is worth visiting for its excellent technical museums. A few examples: Cité de l’Automobile, Cité du Train, Electropolis, and more!

The Vosges

The Ballon d’Alsace (1247 m) is one of the most famous summits of the Vosges mountains.