[2] The column and statue commemorate King Sigismund III Vasa, who in 1596 had moved Poland's capital from Kraków to Warsaw.

[9] The erection of the column primarily served political purposes as it glorified the House of Vasa and further strengthened the king's power and influence.

[11] It provoked a conflict between King Władysław IV and papal nuncio Mario Filonardi, who protested against the fact that the figure of a secular person was depicted on the monument.

[citation needed] On 1 September 1944, during the Warsaw Uprising, the monument's column was demolished by the Germans, and its bronze statue was badly damaged.

[16] The statue was eventually repaired, and in 1949, it was set up on a new column, made of granite from the Strzegom mine, a couple of metres from the original site.

[17] In the same year, the column was depicted on a 10-zloty commemorative coin issued by the National Bank of Poland on the 700th anniversary of Warsaw.