Otto I of Greece was born in Salzburg in 1815 as Otto von Wittelsbach. He was the second son of King Ludwig I of Bavaria.

As Greece was seeking a foreign monarch following its War of Independence against the Ottoman Empire, the 16-year-old Bavarian Prince Otto was selected during the London Conference. Otto ascended the newly created Greek throne in 1832, though the affairs of state were initially managed by a three-member regency council composed of Bavarian court officials. Upon coming of age, Otto dismissed the regents.

Despite various uprisings, he remained in power for three decades. In October 1862, he was deposed during a popular revolt. Otto and his wife Amalia left Greece and went into exile in Bavaria. Nevertheless, the king refused to abdicate and did not regard his departure as final.

This monument was commissioned by King Ludwig I of Bavaria, the father of Otto I. It commemorates the soldiers of the Royal Bavarian Brigade who died here during a typhus epidemic between 1833 and 1834.