The Nord-Pas de Calais region is one of the largest Polish communities in France, above all the descendants of those Poles who came to France to work in the mines. To mark the 60th anniversary of emigration, the region's authorities decided to commemorate the Polish presence in the Nord-Pas de Calais and the Polish-French brotherhood of arms. Made of sandstone from the Table Mountains, the monument was unveiled on 28 April 1979 and was designed by Antoni Slezak, a French-born Polish sculptor known in Poland for his commemorative works mainly relating to the history of the Second World War. The monument is in the form of intersecting vertical and horizontal blocks, the latter carved with the outline of the French borders into which the Polish eagle is inscribed. The inscription on the monument is engraved in two languages: "To the Poles in token of gratitude - Nord-Pas de Calais region".