The Frederic Chopin Monument in Warsaw (

Polish Polish may refer to: * Anything from or related to Poland, a country in Europe * Polish language * Poles Poles,, ; singular masculine: ''Polak'', singular feminine: ''Polka'' or Polish people, are a West Slavic nation and ethnic group, w ...

: ''Pomnik Fryderyka Chopina w Warszawie'') is a large bronze statue of Frédéric Chopin (1810–1849) that now stands in the upper part of

Warsaw Warsaw ( pl, Warszawa, ), officially the Capital City of Warsaw,, abbreviation: ''m.st. Warszawa'' is the capital and largest city of Poland. The metropolis stands on the River Vistula in east-central Poland, and its population is officia ...

Royal Baths Park Royal may refer to: People * Royal (name), a list of people with either the surname or given name * A member of a royal family Places United States * Royal, Arkansas, an unincorporated community * Royal, Illinois, a village * Royal, Iowa, a c ...

(also known as Łazienki Park), adjacent to ''Aleje Ujazdowskie'' (

Ujazdów Avenue Ujazdów may refer to the following places in Poland: *Ujazdów, Warsaw, a neighbourhood in Śródmieście, Warsaw ** Ujazdów Avenue in Warsaw ** Ujazdów Castle in Warsaw ** Ujazdów Park in Warsaw *Ujazdów, Włodawa County in Lublin Voivodeshi ...

History

It was designed in 1907 by

Wacław Szymanowski Wacław Szymanowski (23 August 185922 July 1930) was a Polish sculptor and painter. He is best known for his statue of composer Frédéric Chopin in Warsaw's Royal Baths Park (Łazienki Park). Life Szymanowski was born in Warsaw and was the s ...

for its planned erection on the centenary of Chopin's birth in 1810 but its execution was delayed by controversy about the design, then by the outbreak of

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

. The statue was finally cast and erected in 1926.Encyklopedia powszechna PWN (1976), vol. 4, p. 372. The members of the jury who selected the winning project included such figures as Antoine Bourdelle, Józef Pius Dziekoński and Leopold Méyet. The statue was blown up on May 31, 1940, during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

, on the order of Governor-General

Hans Frank Hans Michael Frank (23 May 1900 – 16 October 1946) was a German politician and lawyer who served as head of the General Government in Nazi-occupied Poland during the Second World War. Frank was an early member of the German Workers' Party ...

and was the first monument destroyed by the occupying Germans in Warsaw. According to local legend, the next day a handwritten sign was found at the site which read: "I don’t know who destroyed me, but I know why: so that I won’t play the funeral march for your leader." After the end of the war, the monument was rebuilt. Architect Oskar Sosnowski designed the pedestal and basin, which are made of red Wąchock

sandstone Sandstone is a clastic sedimentary rock composed mainly of sand-sized (0.0625 to 2 mm) silicate grains. Sandstones comprise about 20–25% of all sedimentary rocks. Most sandstone is composed of quartz or feldspar (both silicates ...

. The inscription on the pedestal reads: ''The Statue of Fryderyk Chopin, destroyed and plundered by the Germans on 31 May 1940, rebuilt by the Nation. 17 October 1946.'' Another inscription engraved on the monument is a quote from

Adam Mickiewicz Adam Bernard Mickiewicz (; 24 December 179826 November 1855) was a Polish poet, dramatist, essayist, publicist, translator and political activist. He is regarded as national poet in Poland, Lithuania and Belarus. A principal figure in Polish Ro ...

's narrative poem '' Konrad Wallenrod'': ''Flames will consume our painted history, sword-wielding thieves will plunder our treasures, the song will be saved...'' The original mould for the statue, which had survived the war, made it possible to cast a replica, which was placed at the original site in 1958. Since 1959, free piano recitals of Chopin's compositions have been performed at the statue's base on summer Sunday afternoons. The stylized

willow Willows, also called sallows and osiers, from the genus ''Salix'', comprise around 400 speciesMabberley, D.J. 1997. The Plant Book, Cambridge University Press #2: Cambridge. of typically deciduous trees and shrubs, found primarily on moist so ...

over Chopin's seated figure echoes a pianist's hand and fingers, and the Polish eagle's head on the right end. A 1:1-scale replica of Szymanowski's statue stands in

Hamamatsu is a city located in western Shizuoka Prefecture, Japan. the city had an estimated population of 791,707 in 340,591 households, making it the prefecture's largest city, and a population density of . The total area of the site was . Overview Ha ...

, Japan. There are also preliminary plans to erect another replica along

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

's lakefront, in addition to a different sculpture commemorating the artist in Chopin Park.Chopin Monument in Chicago
/ref> Szymanowski's statue was the world's tallest Chopin monument until the unveiling, on March 3, 2007, of a slightly taller, modernistic bronze in

Shanghai Shanghai (; , , Standard Mandarin pronunciation: ) is one of the four direct-administered municipalities of the People's Republic of China (PRC). The city is located on the southern estuary of the Yangtze River, with the Huangpu River flowin ...

, China.

Gallery

File:Odsłonięcie pomnika Fryderyka Chopina w Warszawie 1926.jpg, Opening ceremony, 1926 File:Chopin monument - panoramio.jpg, Chopin Statue in Warsaw File:Koncert pomnik Fryderyka Chopina w Warszawie 2014 01.JPG, Annual Chopin summer piano concerts at the

File:4 Warszawa-Lazienki Krolewskie 107.jpg, General view

References

{{coord, 52, 12, 53, N, 21, 01, 41, E, region:PL-MZ_type:landmark_source:kolossus-dewiki, display=title Monuments and memorials to Frédéric Chopin Monuments and memorials in Warsaw 1926 establishments in Poland 1926 sculptures Outdoor sculptures in Poland Monuments and memorials in Poland Sculptures in Poland

History

Gallery

See also

References