Sigismund's Column is the most famous monument of Warsaw and - next to the Little Mermaid - a symbol of the city. But does everyone, even the residents of Warsaw, know when it was built, who built it, and how many columns there actually were? The first column was erected on November 24.1644 at the initiative of King Wladyslaw IV in honor of his father Sigismund III. It was the first secular monument in Warsaw - until this day, only figures of saints or allegorical figures were installed. The authors of the monument were two Italians: sculptor Clemente Molli, creator of the statue of the king, and architect Constantino Tencalla, designer of the monument.→