A bas-relief of the Grand Duchess of Lithuania, Queen of Poland, Royal Princess of Naples and the Duchess of Bari and Rossano, Bona Sforza (1494–1557), was unveiled in the Renaissance Garden in 2021. The bas-relief created by sculptor Jonas Gencevičius in bronze and marble, decorated with gilding and enamel, was gifted to the National Museum – Palace of the Grand Dukes of Lithuania by the Vilnius District Union of the Nobility. Its design was based on an engraved work in which Bona Sforza – the young and beautiful daughter of Duke of Milan Gian Galeazzo Maria Sforza and the Princess of Naples Isabella d’Aragona, has just married Sigismund Jagiellon, known as Sigismund the Old, thus becoming the Grand Duchess of Lithuania and Queen of Poland.
Members of the Vilnius District Union of the Nobility chose the figure of Bona Sforza when searching for the most distinctive women of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. According to the author of the idea and one of the founders of the Lithuanian Royal Union of Nobility, senator Donatas Baikštys, Bona Sforza’s influence on the governance of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and daily life in the state is comparable today to that of the women holding the most important political posts in Europe. “Bona Sforza had an enormous impact on the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, she was the main reformer of the state who brought Italian culture to our lands and loved Lithuania. Otherwise, she would not have spent seven years living at the rulers’ residence in Vilnius”.
The site chosen for the bas-relief of Bona Sforza is the Renaissance Garden bearing her name, so that all residents and guests to the city of Vilnius can admire the work as they pass by the Museum and recall this eminent figure.