Central Park

This larger-than-life bronze equestrian statue depicts King Wladyslaw Jagiello, the Grand Duke of Lithuania who united Lithuania and Poland after marrying the Queen of Poland and becoming king. Polish sculptor Stanislaw Ostrowski (1879–1947) created the sculpture, and Parks Chief Consulting Architect Aymar Embury II (1880–1966) designed the granite pedestal. The monument depicts King Jagiello leading Lithuanian and Polish troops in battle holding two swords crossed over his head, symbolizing the union of the two forces. Jagiello’s cape features the heraldic emblems of both Lithuania and Poland.

The statue was originally featured at the entrance to the Polish pavilion at the World’s Fair of 1939–40 in Queens’ Flushing Meadows-Corona Park. After Poland was invaded following the beginning of World War II in 1939, the statue was removed to storage. In 1945 the Polish government in exile donated the monument to the City and it was rededicated at its current location overlooking Central Park’s Turtle Pond. In 1986 the monument was conserved by the Central Park Conservancy.