Switzerland – Geneva / Brunswick Monument
May 30, 2008
Originally uploaded by letlet.
Switzerland 2004,Geneva – Brunswick Monument
Distinguished linguist, outstanding horseman and musician, Charles d’Este-Guelph, Duke of Brunswick, was also eccentric and paranoiac.
Born in 1804, dethroned and chased from his country in 1830, he took refuge in Paris. A talented investor, he amassed a tremendous fortune there.
But he spent the last three years of his life in Geneva, where he died in 1873, leaving the city a tidy sum of money.
One of the terms of his will specified that it was to build “a mausoleum in an eminent and worthy location, executed according to the established concept by the finest artists of the time, without consideration of cost”.
This was done, on the superb site along the quay, on the Square des Alpes. As the Duke had stipulated, the monument is an exact replica of the Scaligeri family tomb in Verona, Italy, work of the 14th century.
