Statue of Sissi

More than the statue itself, what is striking is the story behind it. On September 10, 1898 it was sweltering in Geneva, the Empress of Austria and Hungary, Sissy, like many other European aristocrats, was enjoying the summer. In the middle of the street, while walking to the edge of Lake Geneva, the Italian anarchist Luigi Lucheni stabbed the Empress. With her corset it didn't seem serious, but when they tried to save her, she had lost too much blood. In her memory there's a plaque at the corner of Quai du Mont Blanc and Rue des Alpes, on the rail sticking to the Lake. And more recently, in the same garden, a statue of the empress, covering herself with her characteristic fan.