Lion’s Mound: A Monument to the Battle of Waterloo

The "Lion's Mound" in Braine-l'Alleud honors the Battle of Waterloo, fought on June 18, 1815, which marked Napoleon Bonaparte's final defeat. The mound is a massive man-made hill, built with earth from the battlefield and topped with a grand lion statue. We climbed the steps to the top for panoramic views of the battlefield and the surrounding countryside.There are a lot of stories about the memorial. When my daughter-in-law, who grew up in Waterloo, was young, she was told the hill existed because many soldiers were buried beneath it. Now, of course, she knows it’s actually a monument ordered by King William I of the Netherlands in 1820, and completed in 1826. It commemorates the spot on the battlefield where his elder son, the Prince of Orange, was thought to be wounded on that historic day—June 18, 1815 — Braine-l'Alleud, Walloon Brabant, Belgium