Waclaw Szymanowski's imposing sculpture in honour of Poland's most famous musical son, Fryderyk Chopin, stands on the western edge of Warsaw's Royal Lazienki Park. It was erected in 1926 and restored in 1958 after damage during the Second World War.
Chopin was born in 1810 at Zelazowa Wola, some 50km (30 miles) west of Warsaw. By the age of eight he had already performed in Warsaw and returned there when he was 12 to study. Recognised as both a composer and brilliant performer, and with two concertos under his belt, Chopin visited Vienna in 1829, to great success. On a similar visit in late 1830 he found it much harder to make an impact. On his way to Paris - just as he had arrived in Stuttgart - he learned that the Russians had invaded his beloved homeland and, tragically, he never saw Poland again.
He became the darling of the Paris salons, fêted by Berlioz, Schumann and Liszt alike: indeed it was Liszt who introduced Chopin to the authoress Amandine Aurore Lucie Dupin, who published under the name George Sand. The two artists lived together for nearly the whole of the 1840s - with the shy composer thankful of being able to compose at Sand's summer house in Nohant - but eventually they split, and shortly after - following an exhausting tour of Britain - Chopin died in Paris of chronic lung disease. His heart is now encased in a pillar of Warsaw's Church of the Holy Cross, and Warsaw's Fryderyck Chopin Society runs a museum in the city.
During the summer the Fryderyk Chopin Society arranges Sunday twice daily concerts at the memorial.
Related Information