Zygmunt's Column
(Redirected from Kolumna Zygmunta)
Categories: Warsaw | Monuments in Poland | Monumental columns
Zygmunt's Column (Polish: Kolumna Zygmunta) is Warsaw's most characteristic and oldest secular monument (erected 1644). It commemorates King Zygmunt III Waza, who in 1596 moved Poland's capital from Kraków to Warsaw.
The column was commissioned by Zygmunt's son and successor, King Władysław IV, and erected between 1643 and 1644 by Italian-born architect Konstanty Tencalli and sculptor Clemente Molli. In 1681 the monument was surrounded with a wooden fence, which was later replaced with a permanent iron fence. The marble column itself was renovated several times over the next centuries, most notably in 1743, 1810, 1821 and 1828. In 1854 the monument was surrounded with a fountain featuring marble tritons sculpted by August Kiss.
In 1863 the column was renovated yet again, but it was in a bad state and between 1885 and 1887 was replaced with a new column of granite. Between 1927 and 1930, the monument was again renovated and was restored to its original appearance when the fountain and fence around it were removed. On September 1, 1944, during the Warsaw Uprising, the monument was demolished by the Germans and the bronze statue was seriously damaged. After the war the statue was repaired, and in 1949 it was set up on a new column, some 6 meters from the original site.
The statue of Zygmunt III was the first secular figure to be placed atop a column anywhere in Europe.