In the year 1833 Nafplion was hit with a devastating typhoid epidemic. Due to this a large number of Bavarian soldiers escorting King Otto unfortunately died.
King Ottos' father, Ludwig of Bavaria commissioned Christian Siegel, a professor of sculpture in Athens , to re-construct the sleeping Lion of Lucerne in memory of these men. The sleeping lion seems to be a fitting tribute to these men who didn’t die in war as many soldiers but were stricken down by a deadly disease far away from home.
The men were buried in the cemetery of Aghii Pantes but later their bones where exhumed and now lie under the crypt of the Nafplion Catholic Church.
In front of the Lion is a small resting place for you to sit and admire this important monument and there is also an inscription below the lion  which reads that this was commissioned by Ludwig of Bavaria, father of Otto first King of Greece, in memory of the Bavarian soldiers.