King Sigismund was not only a skilled politician. The people of Poland remember him most of all as a great patron of the arts. Thanks to him and his wife, Queen Bona of the Italian family of Sforza, the Renaissance flourished Poland. The King sponsored a grand conversion project for Wawel Castle in Cracow, including the erection of the Sigismundian Chapel, the finest specimen of Renaissance architecture north of the Alps. They brought to Poland works of art from all over Europe. Sigismund I started a collection of arrases, decorative tapestries brought to Wawel Castle from Northern France, still today one of the largest arras collections in the world. Within twenty years, including the reign of the king's son, Sigismundus Augustus, who continued his father's collection, 356 such precious works arrived in Poland. Today - after all the losses incurred in subsequent times - 136 of them still hang in the royal apartments of Wawel Castle. Sigismund I also founded a bell, known as the Sigismundian Bell, which still hangs in the highest tower of Wawel Cathedral. It can be heard tolling during the most important state and church ceremonies, and remains a symbol of the Polish nation's freedom and independence.

Historical facts from en.poland.gov.pl.