Between the Church of Agioi Pantes and the city's present-day cemetery, on Michael Iatrou Street, stands an exquisitely sculpted monument, one of the most important monuments of 19th-century Greece, known as the Lion of Bavaria, dating from 1840-1841.
The lion, carved directly into the rock on a monumental scale, is depicted in a sleeping position. The sculptor of this remarkable monument was the German artist Christian Siegel, who served as the first Professor of Sculpture at the University of Athens. Siegel's inspiration for the work came from the famous Lion of Lucerne, designed by the renowned Danish sculptor Bertel Thorvaldsen.
Beneath the Lion of Bavaria, a German inscription carved into the rock reveals that the monument was commissioned by King Ludwig I of Bavaria, father of King Otto, the first King of Greece. It was erected in memory of the Bavarian soldiers who accompanied Otto to Greece and died from a typhus epidemic in Nafplio during the years 1833 and 1834.
The Bavarian soldiers were buried in the nearby cemetery of Agioi Pantes, as well as in an area northeast of Evangelistria, which became known as the "Bavarian Graves." Later, their remains were transferred to the crypt of the Catholic Church of Nafplio.
Today, the area in front of the Lion of Bavaria has been transformed into a small park with benches, offering visitors a pleasant place to rest while exploring this historic part of the city.