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The red marble tomb of King Casimir IV is inside the funerary chapel of Casimir IV and his wife. It is a masterpiece by Veit Stoss, who followed the example of four earlier royal tombs in the nave of the cathedral and placed the recumbent effigy of the King on the sarcophagus, beneath an intricately carved canopy.
Casimir IV, byname Casimir Jagiellonian (Kazimierz Jagiellonczyk, 1427-1492), was grand duke of Lithuania (1440-92) and king of Poland (1447-92). He, by patient but tenacious policy, sought to preserve the political union between Poland and Lithuania and to recover the lost lands of old Poland. The great triumph of his reign was the final subjugation of the Teutonic Knights (1466). He is known in history as one of the most successful and politically active Polish rulers.
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