ul. Dolnych Wałów
Gliwice
"Vigilant Lion" – the sculpture was cast according to a model by Theodor Kalide in 1824, initially placed within the Royal Iron Foundry.
Theodor Erdmann Kalide
He was one of the most prominent sculptors of Upper Silesia. He was related to the Royal Iron Foundry in Gliwice. Author of lion sculptures – characteristic city monuments. He was born in 1801 in Chorzów. He left for 1819 to Berlin, where he first studied at the Academy of Fine Arts and then continued his own artistic activity. His models were used to cast sculptures which remain today in many cities in Poland and Europe. Gliwice, in addition to the "Vigilant Lion" (ul. Dolnych Wałów, in front of the Caro Villa) and the "Sleeping Lion" (Valenciennes Square near the City Hall), also thank him for the famous "Boy and Swan" (Dessau Square). He was also an author of monuments, including that of Frederic the Great for Wrocław and Friedrich Schiller for Berlin. He died in 1863 in Gliwice, where he spent the last years of his life. He was buried at the Foundry Cemetery.