Amos Chapple Visuals

The 1880s were a busy time for the Gayet-Gauthier metalworking foundry in France. That decade the workshop cast the Statue of Liberty and this monument, of the Archangel Gabriel.

The celestial warrior has stood atop Lyon’s hilltop Notre Dame Basilica since 1885 when he was emplaced to aid the city in its struggle against the scourges of cholera, poverty and political unrest.

140 years on, only one of those demons has been defeated but the archangel has been wounded in the spiritual battle. A 2013 renovation team found a bullet from an unknown sniper had pierced the monument’s right arm at an unknown date.

The sword-clasping ‘turul’ that has looked out from Buda Castle since 1903.

The mythical turul bird is credited with leading the Hungarians to their promised land from somewhere east of Europe in the 9th century.

The turul entered Hungarian mythology when a pregnant Magyar princess dreamed the bird swooped down and foretold that her unborn son and his descendents would reign over distant lands. After the tribe departed west, the turul guided the Magyars until they reached the land of today’s Hungary and settled.

The Budapest turul was made by sculptor Gyula Donáth. The artist died in 1909 but left a statue that endured through both world wars.

In photos of Budapest made after World War II, the turul can be seen looking out apparently unscathed over the broken city.