The Lion's Mound of Waterloo is a large conical artificial hill located in the village of Braine-l'Alleud, near Waterloo. King William I of the Netherlands ordered its construction in 1820, and it was completed in 1826. It commemorates the location on the battlefield of Waterloo where a musket ball hit the shoulder of William II and knocked him from his horse during the battle. It is also a memorial of the Battle of Quatre Bras, which had been fought two days earlier, on 16 June 1815.
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| Picture by Pixabay |
The hill offers a view of the battlefield and is the anchor point of the associated museums and taverns in the surrounding Lion's Hamlet. Visitors who pay a fee may climb up the Mound's 226 steps, which lead to the statue and its surrounding. There there are maps documenting the battle, along with observation telescopes. The same fee also pays for admission to see the painting Waterloo Panorama.