The Citadel Park is a large park located on the site of Fort Winiary, a 19th-century fortified area to the north of the town centre. It contains a military museum, military cemeteries and the remains of some of the fortifications.
The obelisk-shaped monument in granite blocks, surrounded by a wall, commemorates 1,333 French soldiers resting in the grave at its foot. The ashes were moved here from all over the town and its surroundings. The monument was inaugurated in 1931 in the presence of Jules Laroche, the French ambassador to Poland, and of the local Polish authorities. The monument was renovated in 2013 by the city of Poznań. On the front wall of the obelisk there are two granite plaques with a text. The inscription on the upper plaque is in Polish and that on the lower plaque is in French and describes the circumstances of the monument's inauguration:
"This monument was inaugurated on 7 November 1931 by His Excellency Mr Laroche, ambassador of France, and in the presence of Messrs René Fatou and Vincensini, representatives of the Minister of Pensions, Serre, consul of France, of the voivode comte Raczynski, of General Dzierżanowski, and of the town's mayor Ratajski."
To the left, at the entrance of the monument to the French prisoners, there is a third granite plaque which describes in Polish who is honoured by this monument: "Here rest 1,333 French soldiers who died in captivity during the war years of 1870-1871 and 1914-1918, transferred from all the cemeteries of Poznań and its surroundings, as well as the ashes of 3 soldiers transferred from the vicinity of the town of Gniezno, who died during the Napoleonic war."
The fourth plaque commemorates six French prisoners who died in captivity in Poznań in the years 1940-1943.