King Władysław II Jagiełło is shown larger than life, seated on a horse holding two crossed swords over his head as a symbol of defiance and the union of Polish–Lithuanian forces.

Known as the Grunwald Swords, they were the invitation to battle offered to the king and his ally Vytautas the Great in an ironic gesture by Ulrich von Jungingen, Grand Master of the Teutonic Order.

[4][3] It is a replica of a King Jagiello memorial in Warsaw that was converted into bullets for World War II by the Germans after they entered and occupied the capital of Poland.

Unlike much of the rest of the pavilion, which was sold to the Polish Museum of America in Chicago, the monument stayed in New York, thanks in part to Mayor Fiorello H. La Guardia publicly lobbying to keep the statue.

[2] The support structure, which attaches the monument to the granite base, was the major endeavor as well as the installation of a new stainless steel mounting system for the statue.