Attraction

Grunwald Monument in Krakow: King Jagiełło on plac Matejki

A monument on plac Matejki for the 500th anniversary of the Battle of Grunwald, founded by Ignacy Jan Paderewski and first unveiled on 15 July 1910. The monument on the square today is Marian Konieczny's reconstruction from 1976.

In the centre of plac Matejki, the Grunwald Monument in Krakow (Pomnik Grunwaldzki) has an equestrian statue of King Władysław Jagiełło on top of a granite pedestal. The monument stands in public space, about 100 m in a straight line from the Krakow Barbican. You can see it from the square at any time; there is no ticket. What stands on the square today is a fairly faithful reconstruction from 1976.

Address: Plac Matejki, 31-157 Krakow.
Created by: concept by Jan Sas Zubrzycki and sculptures by Antoni Wiwulski. Marian Konieczny made the reconstruction.
Unveiled: 15 July 1910, and a second time in 1976.
Access: from the square around it.

Where the Grunwald Monument stands on plac Matejki

The monument was first unveiled at the central point of plac Matejki. The square received its name in 1882, when the City Council gave Jan Matejko honorary citizenship of Krakow. The City of Krakow notes that it is very rare for a place to be named after a person who is still alive.

The neo-Renaissance building of the Akademia Sztuk Pięknych (academy of fine arts) stands on the square. Maciej Moraczewski designed it, and it was built in 1877-1879. The Dyrekcja Kolei (railway directorate) building on the square was built in 1888-1889 by Józef Niedźwiedzki.

The city's description of the monument is on the official website of the City of Krakow (in Polish).

Jagiełło, Witold and the knights on the Grunwald Monument

The monument was unveiled for the 500th anniversary of the victory of Polish and Lithuanian forces under King Władysław Jagiełło over the Teutonic Order (Zakon Krzyżacki). Below the king's statue are two symbolic swords and the figure of Witold, Grand Duke of Lithuania. At Witold's feet lies the mortally wounded Grand Master of the Teutonic Order, Ulrich von Jungingen. On the sides are a Polish knight with a squire and a Lithuanian knight with a bound Teutonic prisoner.

In the steps in front of the pedestal is the Grób Nieznanego Żołnierza (the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier). It is made of marble and bronze, and Wiktor Zin designed it.

Jan Sas Zubrzycki prepared the architectural and spatial concept of the monument, and Antoni Wiwulski was the author of the sculptures. Franciszek Black also had a part in the design, according to the Central Archives of Modern Records (Archiwum Akt Nowych).

On the original sculptures, the Lithuanian group showed a Lithuanian blowing a horn to signal the capture of a Teutonic knight, and the Polish group showed a knight and a squire with captured Teutonic banners.

From the 1910 unveiling to the 1976 reconstruction

The main initiator and founder of the monument was Ignacy Jan Paderewski, a pianist and composer who was also prime minister of Poland in 1919. Paderewski, Dr Juliusz Leo (president of Krakow) and others signed a foundation deed, dated 22 April 1910, for the laying of the cornerstone. On 15 July 1910, exactly on the 500th anniversary of the Battle of Grunwald, the monument was unveiled in front of about 150 thousand spectators. At that time it was 24 metres high.

Since the middle of the 19th century, Krakow had held a series of patriotic celebrations. The anniversary celebrations of 1910 were the last of them before the First World War. In 1910 Poland was not an independent state, and its lands were divided among three partitioning powers. However, the Austrian Empire's policy during the period of Galician autonomy (about 1866-1914) gave the nations under its rule relative freedom.

In the autumn of 1939 the Germans destroyed the monument, and the reconstruction by Marian Konieczny was unveiled only in 1976.

Near the Grunwald Monument: Stary Kleparz and Florian Gate

Stary Kleparz Market is about 150 m from the monument. Florian Gate and the Czartoryski Museum are each about 200 m away. These distances are measured in a straight line, not along the streets.

Grunwald Monument: questions visitors ask

Who does the statue on top of the Grunwald Monument show?

King Władysław Jagiełło, on horseback. The figure of Grand Duke Witold is below the king, and Ulrich von Jungingen lies at Witold's feet.

When was the Grunwald Monument unveiled?

On 15 July 1910, the 500th anniversary of the Battle of Grunwald. The Germans destroyed it in the autumn of 1939, and a fairly faithful reconstruction was unveiled in 1976.