In memory of that battle, the Allies erected on the spot where the Prince of Orange was wounded, a gigantic lion, on the top of a mount of 169 m. diameter and 45 m. high. The lion dominates a field of battle where rest in glory 60,000 brave men, torn from their families by cursed war. (1)
 

ET CENT ans sont passés, et ce coin de la terre.
WATERLOO ce plateau funèbre et solitaire,
Ce champ sinistre où Dieu mêla tant de néants,
Tremple encore d'avoir vu la fuite des géants!

(1) The huge mound of earth, which dominates the battlefield and is the first thing that one sees on approaching it [I visited the battlefield in June 1983], was constructed after the battle. To construct the mound, much of the battlefield was "relocated." What the visitor sees today is, for the most part, not the original battlefield as the combatants saw it. For example, the Gordon Monument, which is featured later in this work, must be approached by climbing up 32 steps, which equates to 21 feet if the steps are a normal 8-inch rise. The Gordon Monument, at the top of the steps, is at the height of the original battlefield at that spot. This means that the main battlefield has been scraped away to tremendous depths to obtain the earth for the Lion Mount. In the earth removal process, no care was taken to preserve the original contour of the land. After the Lion Mount was finished, the Duke of Wellington was invited to view it. His first comment, if I remember correctly, was, "My God! What have you done to my battlefield!" In fact, the duke could not recognize the ground as the same place where he had fought. Return