KING JAGIELLO MONUMENT & PLAZA is our newest location in Central Park for hosting our music & dance programs when the bandshell is unavailable. This stunning plaza overlooks Turtle Pond and sits just across a pathway from King Jagiello Monument.
LOCATION: E 79th St East Side of the Turtle Pond,, New York City, NY
BRIEF HISTORY
Polish sculptor Stanislaw Ostrowski created the monument for the Polish pavilion at the 1939 World’s Fair in Queens. King Jagiello was the Grand Duke of Lithuania who became the King of Poland. The monument (pictured below) depicts a scene from the 1410 Battle of Grunwald when the king held two swords received from his adversaries. Just six months after the pavilion opened, in September 1939, the Nazis invaded Poland destroying all symbols of Polish nationalism including the original statue of the King. When the Fair closed in 1940, Parks Commissioner Robert Moses and Mayor LaGuardia worked with a committee of Polish organizations to find this home for the King Jagiello Monument.
FOR MORE HISTORY Visit The Central Park Conservancy
