Around the upper part of the waist runs a majuscule Renaissance Latin inscription indicating the bell's donor and dedicating it to God: Deo Opt Max ac Virgini Deiparae sanctisque patronis suis divus Sigismundus Poloniae Rex campanam hanc dignam animi operumque ac gestorum suorum magnitudine fieri fecit anno salutis MDXX The inscription translates as follows: "To the greatest and best God, and to the Virgin Mother of God, the illustrious King Sigismund of Poland had this bell cast to be worthy of the greatness of his mind and deeds in the year of salvation 1520.

On the opposite side of the bell, there is a corresponding image of Saint Stanislaus wearing episcopal robes and holding a crosier as a bishop of Kraków.

Both images are placed between heraldic shields bearing the coats of arms of the two nations of Sigismund I's realm – the White Eagle of the Kingdom of Poland on the left, and the Knight of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania on the right.

[1] Behem set up a special foundry near Kraków's Florian Gate[citation needed] where he is said to have used scrap metal taken from the cannons captured by Polish–Lithuanian forces from the Muscovite army in the Battle of Orsha in 1514.

[5] It also tolled during funerals or reburials of several great Poles, such as Adam Mickiewicz (1900), Marshal Józef Piłsudski (1935), General Władysław Sikorski (1993), Pope John Paul II (2005),[2] and Lech Kaczyński with his wife (2010).

Hans Frank, the governor-general of the General Government, had the Sigismund Bell rung in 1940 to celebrate the German victory over France.

[7] After the death of Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin in 1953, Poland's communist authorities demanded that the bell be rung as a sign of mourning.

When the cathedral's bell-ringers refused, soldiers were ordered to ring the bell instead,[2] or – depending on the source – it was rung by a group of Communist activists.

[7] An experiment conducted in 2011 to verify the plausibility of this anecdote showed that four teenagers would have been unable to toll the bell properly, but they could have swung the clapper enough to make a ringing sound.

Since the mid-20th century, the privilege of ringing the bell has belonged to about 30 members of the Fraternity of Wawel Bell-Ringers (Bractwo Dzwonników na Wawelu).