Isted Lion

Infobox Military Memorial
name=Isted Lion Istedløven
body=Danish Palace and Properties Agency Slots- og Ejendomsstyrelsen


commemorates=victory in the Battle of Isted
coordinates=coord|55|40|25|N|12|34|52|E|type:landmark_region:DK|display=inline,title in Copenhagen, Denmark
designer=Herman Wilhelm Bissen
inscription=ISTED DEN 25. JULI 1850 DET DANSKE FOLK REISTE DETTE MINDE
unveiled=July 25 1862 in FlensburgThe Isted Lion (Danish: "Istedløven" (very archaic name: "Flensborgløven"), German: "Flensburger Löwe" or "Idstedt Löwe") is a Danish war monument originally intended as a monument of the Danish victory over Schleswig-Holstein in the Battle of Isted (Idstedt) on July 25, 1850 — at its time the largest battle in Scandinavian history. Others perceived it more as a memorial for the Danish dead in the battle.cite web | author=Kragelund, Britta | title=Istedløven | month= February | year= 2002 | work=Dansk-Skånsk Tidsskrift no. 1, 2002| url=http://www.danskskaanskforening.dk/DST/1-02-isted.htm | accessdate=2006-07-14 da icon]

Originally erected in Flensburg, Schleswig, it was moved to Berlin by Prussian authorities and remained there until 1945. It was returned to Denmark as a gift from the United States Army and is currently located at "Søren Kierkegaards Plads" in Copenhagen. A number of politicians have suggested that it be returned to Germany but the issue remains controversial.

Flensburg

Following the Danish victory over Schleswig-Holstein in the First War of Schleswig (1848–51), Danish sculptor Herman Wilhelm Bissen was commissioned to create a monument to the ordinary Danish soldier. Although not an actual Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, his monument reflected a similar idea. This monument "Landsoldaten" ("the Foot Soldier") was unveiled in Fredericia in 1858. [cite web | author= Jensen, Hans Jørgen | title=Herman Wilhelm Bissen | publisher=Kulturcenteret Assistens | url=http://www.assistens.dk/bissen.htm | accessdate=2006-07-14 da icon] At the following banquet it was decided to start a public subscription of funds for a second monument, and one of the options discussed was a statue of General Bülow, the commander of Fredericia during the German siege of the town.cite web | author=Laursen, Gert | title=Istedløven | work=Dansk militærhistorie| url=http://www.milhist.dk/soldiers/love/istedloven.htm | accessdate=2006-07-14 da icon] Through the intervention of politician Orla Lehmann, it was decided that the funds would instead be used for a monument commemorating the Battle of Isted. Like the previous monument, this commission was awarded to Bissen.

The lion is derived from the arms of Denmark and Schleswig which contain three and two blue lions, respectively. In order to create a perfect image of a lion, Bissen travelled to Paris to study a lion held in the Jardin des Plantes and created a life-size model before returning to Denmark.Bissen completed his first plaster model in 1860, and the bronze cast was completed by June 1862. The statue's plinth of Bornholm stone was decorated with four round metal reliefs depicting four Danish officers from the war; Generals Krogh and Schleppergell and Colonels Helgesen and Læssøe. The finished monument was approximately four meters tall, and carried the following inscription:

"Isted den 25. Juli 1850. Det danske Folk reiste dette Minde"
("Isted, 25 July 1850. The Danish people set this memorial")

The statue was unveiled on the twelfth anniversary of the battle, July 25 1862, at St. Mary's Cemetery in Flensburg, Schleswig's largest city. Among the celebrities attending the ceremony was fairy-tale writer Hans Christian Andersen.

Erecting the monument in Flensburg rather than Copenhagen or Isted, was seen as a provocation by the region's German nationalists who opposed the Danish claim to sovereignty over the area. The decision to let the lion face south reinforced this feeling.

Berlin

In 1864, war returned to the region, culminating in the German victory in the Battle of Dybbøl. In the following peace settlement, Denmark surrendered both Schleswig and Holstein, leaving the monument on the German side of the new border.

Following the occupation of Flensburg by German forces, German nationalists attacked the monument and tried to topple it. They succeeded in removing the tail and part of the lion's back but failed to destroy the statue due to the intervention of German authorities.

The Prime Minister of Prussia, Otto von Bismarck, ordered the monument to be dismantled and its parts were originally stored in the courtyard of the Schleswig Estates in Flensburg. In 1867, the lion and the four reliefs were moved to Berlin at the order of "Generalfeldmarschall" Friedrich Graf von Wrangel.

The reassembled lion was erected in the "Zeughaus" (Arsenal) in Berlin on February 9 1868. Following the transformation of the arsenal into a military museum in 1875, the lion was transported to the Cadet Academy in Lichterfelde, and erected there in April 1878. The lion remained there for more than 60 years.

In 1874 , a zinc copy of the monument was erected in Berlin in a public park "Schweiz", near the "Colonie Alsen" association of war veterans. This monument was paid for by banker Wilhelm Conrad. A path leading up to the statue was fittingly dubbed, "Straße zum Löwen", i.e. the "Road to the Lion".cite web | title=Der Flensburger Löwe | publisher=Haus der Wannsee-Konferenz. Gedenk- und Bildungsstätte | Date=2005-06-07 | url=http://www.ghwk.de/sonderausstellung/villenkolonie/flensburger_loewe.htm | accessdate=2006-07-14 de icon] On the copy, the reliefs of the four Danish officers were replaced with a single image of the German officer Prince Frederick Charles of Prussia, in effect reversing the meaning of the original monument. In 1938, the Danish press reported the existence of the copy of the historic monument, and at roughly the same time, the zinc copy was moved to Heckeshorn near the Wannsee, where it remains today. This location is close to the building housing what would later be known as the Wannsee Conference. The statue in Berlin was repaired in 2005.

Copenhagen

Following the defeat of Nazi Germany in World War II, Henrik V. Ringsted - correspondent from the Danish newspaper "Politiken" - "rediscovered" the monument in Berlin, and approached the United States Army inquiring about the possibilities of having the statue returned to Denmark. The issue ultimately reached the desk of General Dwight D. Eisenhower, the Supreme Commander of the Allied forces in Europe, who demanded an official request in order to allow the return of the monument.cite web | author=Christlieb, Emanuel and Christiansen, Thomas Kvist | title=Istedløven blev født i Fredericia | publisher=Foreningen Til Istedløvens Placering i Fredericia | url=http://www.volden.dk/istedloeve/istedloeve.htm | accessdate=2006-07-14 da icon] Such a request was promptly delivered by Danish Foreign Minister John Christmas Møller.

In the autumn of 1945 the paperwork had been completed, and an American army convoy headed for Copenhagen, where it arrived on October 5. On October 20, the lion was officially handed over to King Christian X. In, what was considered an interim solution, the lion was placed in a courtyard on the rear side of the Royal Danish Arsenal Museum ("Tøjhusmuseet"), and placed on a mere wooden plinth.

From 1945 to 1947, a large number of Danish politicians advocated for a reannexation of Southern Schleswig, and in particular Flensburg - resulting in a fierce political debate. As the debate ended with a confirmation of the existing border, the same politicians ruled out the possibility of returning the statue to a German-ruled town. On a number of occasions, controversy over the monument resurfaced, as a new generation of politicians began advocating for its return to a German-administered Flensburg. Throughout this debate, the magistrate in Flensburg was never officially consulted on the issue, and the city has never expressed any desire to have the monument returned.

In 1999, construction of a new public square near the museum began, prompted by a relocation of the Danish Royal Library to a neighbouring site. Debate about moving the lion to this more prominent position began, and the Ny-Carlsberg Foundation volunteered to pay for the relocation. [cite web | author=Eduard Troelsgård. Rådgivende ingeniører | title=Istedløven | url=http://www.et-ing.dk/istedloven.htm | accessdate=2006-07-14 da icon] The wooden plinth was replaced with a bigger one made of brick, and the statue was reunited with its four reliefs for the first time in more than a century. The finished result was unveiled on the 150th anniversary of the battle, July 25 2000, by Danish Minister for Culture Elsebeth Gerner Nielsen. In her speech, she expressed the wish that the statue would be returned to Flensburg. In a Parliament debate on November 20 1998 she had previously stated that the statue should be returned to Flensburg, since this was the wish of the Danish minority there. [cite web | author=Official website of the Danish Parliament | title=1998-99. Svar på § 20-spørgsmål: Placeringen af Istedløven | url=http://www.folketinget.dk/Samling/19981/spor_sv/S446.htm | accessdate=2006-07-14 da icon]

A committee in Fredericia, already the home of Bissen's other main work, the statue of the "Foot Soldier", is lobbying for moving the monument there.

References

::In-line:::General:
#Part of the information regarding the copy in Berlin is based on the corresponding article on the German Wikipedia, accessed on 12 June 2006."
# Den Store Danske Encyklopædi, CD-ROM edition, entry "Istedløven" Da icon

External links

* [http://www.thm.dk/admin/isted_ny.htm Official museum website about the monument] Da icon
* [http://www.volden.dk/istedloeve/istedloeve.htm Website advocating for the movement of the lion to Fredericia] Da icon
* [http://www.flensburg-online.de/altesflensburg/idstedt-loewe.html Flensburg Online Magazine about the monument] De icon
* [http://www.berlin.de/ba-steglitz-zehlendorf/derbezirk/radtour.html Official website of Berlin mentioning the monument] De icon