Monument to the Fallen at Melegnano and Solferino
A lion standing on a spread military flag symbolizes the heroic death of 872 soldiers of the Písek regiment.
On the site of a filled-in fortification moat, the command of the 11th Infantry Regiment erected the first true monument in Písek in 1861. It was created by the Prague sculptor Emanuel Max. The lion standing on the spread military flag was intended to symbolize the heroic death of 872 soldiers of the Písek regiment who bravely fought and fell in northern Italy at the battles of Melegnano (8 June 1859) and Solferino (24 June). The two snakes being trampled by the lion represent Austria’s enemies in this war – Sardinia and France. The Písek regiment particularly distinguished itself at Melegnano. The soldiers who survived this hell also took part in the larger battle of Solferino, which went down in history as the impulse for the founding of the International Red Cross. After 1918, the people of Písek wanted to remove the monument because it celebrated the hated monarchy, but eventually settled for modifying the inscriptions on the plaques.
