Battle of Leipzig

[besilarius]

https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/monument-to-the-battle-of-the-nations

Don't think I have ever heard of this.  Looks like a concept set by Peter Jackson.
Think I sense the adept hand of kaiser Wilhelm in this.

[Gusington]

^Wow. I dig it.

[Sir Slash]

I must've missed the part where Napoleon 'surrendered' there. Maybe that's a German History version. Cool monument though.

[Staggerwing]

It does look pretty impressive. Wouldn't the 'empty crypt' technically be a cenotaph?

[Cyrano]

It amazes me that something that bloody big has been "rediscovered" by way of that article.

I've received a number of inquiries from friends re: "hey, did you know about this??!!" and have been able to share the 200+ photographs I took of thing while I was there in August.  I've even got a teensy model of it on my desk at work.

The statue of St. Michael that greets one on the outside is not to be messed with.

The four epic figures inside -- each representing a German martial virtue -- have toe nails the size of my son's head.  I have proof of this.

One of my favorite bits is that the artist who did all the sculpture -- yes all -- went a bit daft and turned on the style that he used through much of the Denkmal. There are smaller works around door frames and the like that are much gentler; softer, I guess.

I went to Leipzig looking for this thing and was enthralled by it.  I very much want to go back.

It's a reality check for folks like me, though, that many in Leipzig don't know what this gigantic thing is for or any of the details of the battle.

Oh, and the museum on the ground floor is first rate and includes, among many other items, Marshall Poniatowski's saddle.

[Sir Slash]

He was killed there as I recall. Would love to see it personally. Is the battlefield preserved at all?

[Cyrano]

I am authorized now to show pictures.

He died trying to cross the Elster during the evacuation after the battle.  This is my son and I at the monument that's situated in a small park near where he died.



The Elster through Leipzig has been heavily channelized -- a portion of it is now a public "green" park -- and it's hard to imagine it being an obstacle sufficient to kill a man.  Based on the research I brought with, he'd have died right about here:



The short answer to your question, in my own judgment, is no.  Which I found frustrating and a bit heart breaking.  The city is now much grown and the Apelsteine are incredibly difficult to find.  Some of them hiding out in street medians or planters in front of stores.  My son and I had a good time with them, but only the obsessive need apply.  As I say, even Probstheida, which was well to the South of the city proper at the time is now part of municipal Leipzig.

The view from the very top of the Denkmal is spectacular and, with map in hand, at least gives you a sense of how big that battlefield was.

To the far South, I will say, there are cool things to see.  I climbed to the top of the Galgenberg and could imagine some of the fighting around Liebertwolkwitz, although the Monarchshuegel is now safely nestled in a subdivision making any attempt to see what they would have seen there pointless.

And then there's the Torhaus Dolitz.  It is, I believe, the last authentic piece of the battlefield left to us.  It's at the far southwest tip of the battle, but marked a place where, returning to our theme, Poniatowski, defended the eponymous manor from Austrian attack in the early stages of the battle.  The manor is gone, but the gatehouse is still there.  The Elster flowing in front of it gives you a sense of what might have drowned Poniatowski with its very swift current and uncertain banks.  Inside, there's the largest and coolest set of tin soldier dioramas I've ever seen.  Were I to win the lottery, I would buy it.

This is the view of the gatehouse looking over the bridge and the Elster into the courtyard.

[Cyrano]

Oh, and if by "it" you meant the saddle (which I doubt), here it is from the museum at the Denkmal.

Along with my son mourning the Marshal's loss.

[Sir Slash]

Thank you Cyrano for posting those great pics. Very sad so little is thought of this important battle in German history-- the largest of the entire Napoleonic Campaigns if I remember correctly. You have a good-looking boy and it's great you & he are getting to see where history occurred together.  O0