Waterloo

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From Luxembourg, our Globus tour traveled across southern Belgium. Once again we crossed Meuse River, at Liège and then at Namur. The Waterloo battlefield is south of the town of Waterloo, not far at all outside Brussels.

Waterloo is the Belgian battlefield where Napoleon met his defeat on 18 June 1815 and thus ended the Napoleonic Wars. People have been coming to visit the site of the great Battle of Waterloo almost ever since it occurred. Baedeker documents a thriving tourist industry in the 1870s. I imagined a visit would be something very much like a visit to an American Civil War battlefield. That really is not the case. The battlefield is preserved, but it is fenced off and accessible only via a tram tour. The visitor center is adjacent to the Butte de Lion (Lion's Mound). This is an artificial hill surmounted by a lion statue. It was commissioned by William I of The Netherlands and completed in 1826. The lion is supposedly made of melted French cannon. There are stairs up the mound for a wider view of the area of the battlefield, with admission. The visitor center has informative displays and films and there is also a Panorama (cyclorama) painting of the battle. One film featured excerpts of the 1970 film with Rod Steiger and Christopher Plummer. Another traces the progress of the battle. Unfortunately, we did not have time to visit the cyclorama. The only regimental memorial to be seen was the roadside Monument to the Hanoverians at the turnoff for the Butte du Lion. There apparently are British memorials at locales within the fenced off battlefield, though I had expected to see more regimental memorials, like those at an American Civil War battlefield. Lunch was at the Café Wellington, a part of the visitor center.

A new visitor center was under construction for the Bicentennial of the battle in 2015.

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Photos

Butte du Lion
Butte du Lion - Lion's Mound on the battlefield of Waterloo. Installed in 1826 and inscribed XVIII JUNI MDCCCXV - 18 June 1815, the date of the battle. The mound is 141 ft. (43 m) in height.
"About 1/4 M. to the right rises the Mound of the Belgian Lion, 200 ft. in height, thrown up on the spot where the Prince of Orange was wounded in the battle. The lion was cast by Cockerill of Liège, with the metal of captured French cannon, and is said to weigh 28 tons. The French soldiers, on their march to Antwerp in 1832, hacked off part of the tail, but Marshal Gérard protected the monument from further injury. The mound commands the best survey of the battlefield..."--Baedeker 1910.
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Waterloo Cyclorama
Panorama de la Bataile - Waterloo Cyclorama. Cyclorama painting of the Battle of Waterloo by Louis Dumoulin, 1912.
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French Grenadier
French Grenadier uniform at the Waterloo Battlefield Visitors' Centre.
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Butte du Lion
Butte du Lion - Lion's Mound on the battlefield of Waterloo. Installed in 1826 and inscribed XVIII JUNI MDCCCXV - 18 June 1815, the date of the battle. The mound is 141 ft. (43 m) in height.
"About 1/4 M. to the right rises the Mound of the Belgian Lion, 200 ft. in height, thrown up on the spot where the Prince of Orange was wounded in the battle. The lion was cast by Cockerill of Liège, with the metal of captured French cannon, and is said to weigh 28 tons. The French soldiers, on their march to Antwerp in 1832, hacked off part of the tail, but Marshal Gérard protected the monument from further injury. The mound commands the best survey of the battlefield..."--Baedeker 1910.
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Butte de Lion Interpretive Marker
Waterloo Battlefield.
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Café Wellington
Café Wellington. Waterloo Battlefield. Route du Lion.
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Fondues au Fromage
Fondues au Fromage - Cheese Croquettes served at Café Wellington.
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Carbonnade ầ la Flammande
Carbonnade ầ la Flammande - Flemish Beef Stew with Frites served at Café Wellington.
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Farm Near Waterloo
Farmstead near Waterloo, Belgium. Perhaps it resembles those farms involved in the battle.
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The Meuse at Namur
Crossing the Meuse River at Namur, Belgium.
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