Location: Plac Zamkowy
Bus: 100, 116, 175, 178, 180, 190, 195, 222, 503
Trolley: 13, 23, 26, 32
Sigismund III Vasa Column - a monument to King
Sigismund III Vasa located in the Castle Square in Warsaw. The
monument was erected in the years 1643–1644 from the foundation of
Władysław IV Vasa according to the design of Augustyn Locci and
Constantino Tencalli.
The monument was restored in the years
1885–1887 and 1929–1931. It was destroyed by the Germans in
September 1944 and reconstructed in 1948–1949.
According to Albrycht Radziwiłł's account, by the decision of King
Władysław IV Vasa, the houses of the Bernardine convent, which the king
had bought earlier in order to build the monument, were demolished.
The Sigismund's Column, erected in 1644, is the oldest secular
monument in Warsaw and the first secular column erected in modern
Europe; it remained the only monument of this type until 1810, when the
Vendôme column was erected in Paris. The column was erected by his son
Władysław IV Waza, who wanted to commemorate his father in this way. The
column was a monument to royal virtues and depicted the secular and
sacred essence of royal power. Its erection had a political goal
(glorification of the Vasa dynasty and strengthening the king's power),
therefore it was placed on the square in front of the Kraków Gate - at
that time the most important communication junction of the capital. At
the king's order, the area was cleared of the existing buildings at the
gate and city walls, bought from the Bernardine nuns.
The project
caused a conflict between Władysław IV and nuncio Maria Filonardi. The
nuncio's greatest protests were caused by placing a statue of the king
(a lay person) on the column. In line with tradition, this kind of
exaltation has so far been reserved for the Mother of God, Christ and
the saints.
The concept of the column was developed by Augustyn
Locci and Constantino Tencalla. The bronze statue of the king was made
by Clemente Molli, specially brought from Bologna, and the bronze cast
and four inscription plates were made by the royal giser Daniel Tym. The
ruler was depicted in archaized armor and a richly decorated coronation
cloak, with a crown on his head, a saber in his right hand, a Latin
cross in his left hand, and his right leg on a helmet with ostrich
feathers; on the chest there is the order of the Golden Fleece. The
statue was completely cast. The date 1644 and the names of the sculptor
and founder are placed on its pedestal.
The shaft of the column
was made of one block of Sigismund conglomerate from the quarry in
Czerwona Góra. The material was characterized by a conglomerate
structure with a characteristic "brawn" pattern. With time, this genre
began to be called "Zygmuntówka". The column was transported to Warsaw
along the Vistula River. It was transfused from the harbor, probably ul.
Mostowa, and further along the defensive walls to the square, for about
300 people in one day. They were supported by 200 soldiers from the
royal guard.
The monument was officially unveiled on November 24,
1644.
The column was damaged during the Swedish wars in the years
1656-1657 and at the beginning of the 18th century. It has undergone
several renovations. The first one was carried out in 1743 by Franciszek
Dąbrowski. The next one, in 1810, was made by Józef Boretti under the
supervision of a group of architects.
In 1827 the iron grating
surrounding the column was changed into stone poles connected by iron
chains. In 1854, in connection with the construction of the water
supply, Henryk Marconi designed a water feature there and a new setting
for the monument. The base of the column was surrounded by a cast-iron
balustrade and decorated with four gushing water tritons designed by the
German sculptor August Kiss. They were cast from zinc in the Karol
Juliusz Minter factory in Warsaw. The waterworks started in April 1855.
In 1863, further renovation works were carried out under the
direction of Józef Orłowski. Edward Cichocki was in charge of the
general reconstruction of the monument in the years 1885–1889. At that
time, the weathered shaft of the Zygmunt conglomerate column was
replaced with a granite shaft, supplied by the Viennese
Union-Baugeselschaft. All original metal parts have been retained. Pine
wood from the erected scaffolding, from trees cut without prior resin
treatment, by the decision of the city's president, Socrates
Starynkiewicz, was used to build the church of St. Vincent de Paul at
the Bródno cemetery. The shaft of the first column was placed in the
yard of the Museum of Industry and Agriculture, where it could be seen.
In the years 1929–1931, during renovation works, the surrounding
area of the column was restored to its original appearance by removing
the pool, tritons and the balustrade. The tritons were transported to
the Museum of Water Supply and Sewerage at the Filter Station, where
they disappeared.
According to the redevelopment design, pl.
Castle as part of the unrealized Pabst plan, the Sigismund's Column was
to be replaced with a great statue of the Germanic goddess of victory.
The monument was destroyed during the Warsaw Uprising, on the night
of September 1-2, 1944, hit by a shell from a German tank gun. However,
the statue of the king fell to the ground in such a way that it was not
seriously damaged. Only part of the forearm of the left hand with the
cross and the saber were knocked off. Of the remaining bronze elements
of the monument, the following are lost: eagles with garlands, a plaque
placed during conservation in the times of Augustus III the Saxon, and
two plinth plaques - the west and the north. The damaged sculpture was
transported on a sleigh to the church of St. Anna. In the spring of
1945, it was shown at the exhibition Warsaw Accuses at the National
Museum.
Formally, the initiators of the reconstruction of the monument were
workers of the metal industry, joined by trade unions of the
construction, ceramics, related and chemical industries. In February,
the Reconstruction Committee headed by Henryk Golański was established.
The design of the column reconstruction was prepared by Stanisław Żaryn.
The missing parts of the cast were completed by the company of the
Łopieński Brothers according to the sculptural design by Józef Gaza, and
the stonework was carried out by the company of J. Fedorowicz. The new
shaft of the column was made of Strzegom granite obtained in the summer
of 1948. It was brought to Warsaw by rail in October 1948, and work on
its processing lasted until March 1949. The grinding of the column shaft
took place in a special barrack in Krakowskie Przedmieście.
The
statue of the king was placed on the column on July 12, 1949. Due to the
construction of the W-Z route, the figure was moved 6 m to the
north-east and slightly turned. The ceremonial unveiling of the monument
took place on the day the W-Z route and the Mariensztat housing estate
were put into use on July 22, 1949.
In 1965, the monument was
entered in the register of monuments. During the reconstruction of the
Castle Square in the 1970s (lowering the level of the square by 0.5–1.5
m in order to compensate for the level difference between the street
exits and the Castle), the base of the column was supplemented with
several additional granite steps.
The first two shafts of the
column are exhibited at the Royal Castle (from the side of the W-Z
Route).
Column description
The plinth of the column is
decorated with four bronze plaques. The Latin inscription in capital
letters on the south side, when translated into Polish, reads:
Honor and affection, this dedicated column to Zygmunt III, Władysław IV
of the family, love, talents Son; of elections, order, happiness
Successor; Grateful for vows, heart and deed; To the Father of the
Fatherland, the best deserved parent, in the year of our Lord 1643, he
ordered to erect a wreath of fame, gratitude to the progeny, monuments
to Eternity Eternal, or owed.