The Copernicus Monument stands in front of the Polish Academy of Sciences on Krakowskie Przedmieście. Bertel Thorvaldsen's bronze statue, unveiled in 1830, shows the astronomer holding an armillary sphere. The inscription reads, in the original Polish: "To Copernicus from his fellow countrymen." During the Nazi occupation, Germans tried to replace it with a monument bearing a German inscription — Polish resistance fighters damaged the new plaque twice until the Germans gave up.
Copernicus was born in Royal Prussia, which was at the time part of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, making his Polish identity a matter of pride. The monument is midway along the Royal Route, a natural stopping point on any walk between the Old Town and Łazienki Park.