He lost his life here, in front of the gates of the city, in one of the most costly and bloody battles of the 30 Years War.

More than 35,000 soldiers fought on the fields of Lützen on that November day. On one side stood the Imperial Catholic army under Albrecht von Wallenstein, on the other the Swedish Protestant army commanded by the Swedish King Gustav II Adolf himself. With Gustav II Adolf, more than 6,000 men died in "smoke and fog". 1632 : an ice-age boulder marks the place of the king's death on the battlefield immediately after the battle. 1837 : the cast iron canopy designed by K. F. Schinkel is erected over the so-called "Swedish Stone". 1906/1907: the Swedish consul Oskar Ekman and his wife Maria donate the Gustav Adolf Chapel, built in the Scandinavian style.1932 and 1982: two wooden houses from the Swedish Dalarna are built for residential and exhibition purposes.