Tomb of the Unknown Soldier , Warsaw The Tomb of the Unknown Soldier ( ) is a monument in Warsaw , Poland , dedicated to the unknown soldiers who have given their lives for Poland . It is one of many such national tombs of unknowns that were erected after World War I , and the most important such monument in Poland . The monument , located at Warsaw ' s Piłsudski Square , is the only surviving part of the Saxon Palace that occupied the spot until World War II . Since 2 November 1925 the tomb houses an unidentified body of a young soldier who fell during the Defence of Lwów . At a later date earth from numerous battlefields where Polish soldiers have fought was added to the urns housed in the surviving pillars of the Saxon Palace . The Tomb is constantly lit by an eternal flame and assisted by a guard post by the Representative Battalion of the Polish Army . It is there that most official military commemorations take place in Poland and where foreign representatives lay wreaths when visiting Poland . The changing of the guard takes place daily at 12 : 00 noon . History . In 1923 , a group of unknown Varsovians placed , before Warsaw ' s Saxon Palace and the adjacent Saxon Garden , a stone tablet commemorating all the unknown Polish soldiers who had fallen in World War I and the subsequent Polish - Soviet War . This initiative was taken up by several Warsaw newspapers and by General Władysław Sikorski . On April 4 , 1925 , the Polish Ministry of War selected a battlefield from which the ashes of an unknown soldier would be brought to Warsaw . Of some 40 battles , that for Lwów was chosen . In October 1925 , at Lwów ' s Cemetery of the Defenders of Lwów , three coffins were exhumed : those of an unknown sergeant , corporal and private . The coffin that was to be transported to Warsaw was chosen by Jadwiga Zarugiewiczowa , mother of a soldier who had fallen at Zadwórze and whose body had never been found . On November 2 , 1925 , the coffin was brought to Warsaw ' s St . John ' s Cathedral , where a Mass was held . Afterward eight recipients of the order of Virtuti Militari bore the coffin to its final resting place beneath the colonnade joining the two wings of the Saxon Palace . The coffin was buried along with 14 urns containing soil from as many battlegrounds , a Virtuti Militari medal , and a memorial tablet . Since then , except under German occupation during World War II , an honor guard has continuously been held before the Tomb . Architecture . The Tomb was designed by the famous Polish sculptor , Stanisław Kazimierz Ostrowski . It was located within the arcade that linked the two symmetric wings of the Saxon Palace , then the seat of the Polish Ministry of War . The central tablet was ringed by 5 eternal flames and 4 stone tablets bearing the names and dates of battles in which Polish soldiers had fought during World War I and the Polish - Soviet War ( 1919 – 21 ) . Behind the Tomb were two steel gratings bearing emblems of Poland ' s two highest Polish military decorations — the " Virtuti Militari " and Cross of Valor . During the 1939 invasion of Poland , the building was slightly damaged by German aerial bombing , but it was quickly rebuilt and seized by the German authorities . After the Warsaw Uprising , in December 1944 , the palace was completely demolished by the Wehrmacht . Only part of the central colonnade , sheltering the Tomb , was preserved . After the war , in late 1945 , reconstruction began . Only a small part of the palace , containing the Tomb , was restored by Henryk Grunwald . On 8 May 1946 it was opened to the public . Soil from 24 additional battlegrounds was added to the urns , as well as more tablets with names of battles in which Poles had fought in World War II . However , the communist authorities erased all trace of the Polish - Soviet War of 1920 , and only a few of the Polish Armed Forces ' battles in the West were included . This was corrected in 1990 , after Poland had regained its political autonomy . There are plans to rebuild the Saxon Palace , but as of 2009 it is unknown when and whether these plans will be realized .