Frédéric Chopin Monument, Warsaw

Frédéric Chopin Monument in Warsaw

Frédéric Chopin Monument in Warsaw

Location| Warsaw, Poland
Designer| Wacław Szymanowski
Material| bronze
Beginning date| 1909
Completion date| 1926
Opening date| November 14, 1926
May 11, 1958
Dedicated to| Frédéric Chopin

Historic Monument of Poland

Designated| 1994-09-08
Part of| Warsaw – historic city center with the Royal Route and Wilanów
Reference no.| M.P. 1994 nr 50 poz. 423[1]

The Frédéric Chopin Monument in Warsaw (Polish: Pomnik Fryderyka Chopina w Warszawie) is a large bronze statue of Frédéric Chopin (1810–1849), designed by Wacław Szymanowski, that stands in the upper part of Warsaw's Royal Baths Park (also known as Łazienki Park), adjacent to Aleje Ujazdowskie (Ujazdów Avenue).

## History

[edit]

It was designed in 1907 by Wacław Szymanowski 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. The statue was finally cast and erected in 1926.[2] The members of the jury who selected the winning project included such figures as Antoine Bourdelle, Józef Pius Dziekoński and Leopold Méyet.[3]

Statue destroyed by the Germans (1940)

The statue was blown up on May 31, 1940,[4][5] during World War II, on the order of Governor-General Hans Frank and was the first monument destroyed by the occupying Germans in Warsaw.[6] 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."[7]

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.[8] 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."[9] Another inscription engraved on the monument is a quote from Adam Mickiewicz's narrative poem Konrad Wallenrod: "Flames will consume our painted history, sword-wielding thieves will plunder our treasures, the song will be saved..."[9]

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.[2] Since 1959, free piano recitals of Chopin's compositions have been performed at the statue's base on summer Sunday afternoons.[10]

The stylized willow 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, Japan. There are[when?] also preliminary plans to erect another replica along Chicago's lakefront, in addition to a different sculpture commemorating the artist in Chopin Park.[11]

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, China.

## Gallery

[edit]

* Opening ceremony, 1926

* Chopin Statue in Warsaw

* Annual Chopin summer piano concerts at the Royal Baths Park

* General view

## See also

[edit]

* Adam Mickiewicz Monument in Warsaw

## References

[edit]

1. ^ Zarządzenie Prezydenta Rzeczypospolitej Polskiej z dnia 8 września 1994 r. w sprawie uznania za pomnik historii., M.P., 1994, vol. 50, No. 423
2. ^ a b Encyklopedia powszechna PWN (1976), vol. 4, p. 372.
3. ^ Kotkowska-Bareja, Hanna (1970). Pomnik Chopina. Warsaw: Państwowe Wydawnictwo Naukowe. p. 15.
4. ^ Warszawa - Pomnik Fryderyka Chopina w Łazienkach Królewskich Archived 2011-07-18 at the Wayback Machine
5. ^ Wysadzenie pomnika Chopina w Warszawie przez hitlerowców Archived 2011-07-21 at the Wayback Machine
6. ^ Kotkowska-Bareja, Hanna (1970). Pomnik Chopina. Warszawa: Państwowe Wydawnictwo Naukowe. p. 47.
7. ^ "Zabytki z Łazienek Królewskich w paryskim Ritzu". Retrieved 1 June 2020.
8. ^ "Pomnik Fryderyka Chopina". Retrieved 30 March 2020.
9. ^ a b "Warsaw: Royal Baths Park". Archived from the original on 24 September 2019. Retrieved 30 March 2020.
10. ^ Jabłoński, Rafał (2002). Warsaw and surroundings. Warsaw: Festina. p. 107\. OCLC 680169225.
11. ^ "Chopin Monument in Chicago". Archived from the original on 2009-06-28.

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Fryderyk Chopin Monument in Warsaw.

52°12′53″N 21°01′41″E﻿ / ﻿52.21472°N 21.02806°E﻿ / 52.21472; 21.02806

* v
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Public art and memorials in Warsaw, Poland

Portrait sculpture

| Arts|

* Frédéric Chopin
* René Goscinny
* Jerzy Janicki
* Maria Konopnicka
* Jan Matejko
* Adam Mickiewicz
* Downtown
* Praga-South
* Maurycy Mochnacki
* Cyprian Kamil Norwid
* Eliza Orzeszkowa
* Downtown
* Praga-South
* Agnieszka Osiecka
* Ignacy Jan Paderewski
* Downtown
* Praga-South
* Bolesław Prus
* Downtown
* Praga-South
* Leon Schiller
* Taras Shevchenko
* Henryk Sienkiewicz
* Juliusz Słowacki
* Józef Szanajca
* Jan Twardowski
* Stanisław Wyspiański
* Jan Zachwatowicz
* Stefan Żeromski

|

Military|

* Józef Bem
* Zygmunt Berling †
* Bartolomeo Colleoni
* original †
* replica
* Stanisław Jankowski
* Jan Kiliński
* Aleksander Kamiński
* Jan Karski
* Tadeusz Kościuszko
* Jan Nowak-Jeziorański
* Francesco Nullo
* Ivan Paskevich †
* Witold Pilecki
* Józef Poniatowski
* North Downtown
* Ujazdów
* Stefan Rowecki
* Zbigniew Ścibor-Rylski
* Danuta Siedziakówna
* Mikhail Skobelev †
* Stanisław Sosabowski
* Józef Sowiński
* Maciej Sulkiewicz
* Karol Świerczewski †
* Wanda Tazbir
* Bolesław Wieniawa-Długoszowski
* Maria Wittek
* Piotr Wysocki
* Vali bey Yadigarov

Politics|

* József Antall
* Napoleon Bonaparte
* Willy Brandt
* Ignacy Daszyński
* Roman Dmowski
* Piotr Drzewiecki
* Felix Dzerzhinsky †
* János Esterházy
* Charles de Gaulle
* Edward Mandell House
* John III Sobieski
* Royal Axis
* Royal Baths Park
* Wilanów Garden †
* Wilanów Palace
* Lech Kaczyński
* Marcin Kasprzak
* Wojciech Korfanty
* Krzysztof Kozłowski
* Julian Kulski
* Eugeniusz Kwiatkowski
* Stanisław Małachowski
* Ignacy Mościcki
* Gabriel Narutowicz
* Marceli Nowotko †
* Jan Olszewski
* Józef Piłsudski
* South Downtown
* Ujazdów
* Ronald Reagan
* Sigismund III Vasa
* Henryk Sławik
* Sokrates Starynkiewicz
* Stefan Starzyński
* North Downtown
* Old Town
* Praga-South
* Jan Tarło
* Ludwik Waryński
* George Washington
* Wincenty Witos

Religion|

* John of Nepomuk
* Mary of Nazareth
* Our Lady of Grace
* Our Lady of Passau
* Pius XI
* Stefan Wyszyński

Science|

* Nicolaus Copernicus
* William Heerlein Lindley
* Maria Skłodowska-Curie
* Downtown
* Ochota
* Stanisław Staszic

Social reformers
and humanitarians|

* Janusz Korczak
* Czyste
* Downtown
* Powiązki
* Halina Mikołajska

Sport|

* Kazimierz Deyna
* Feliks Stamm

Other monuments and memorials

* 1944–1956 Communist Terror Martyrs
* Air Disaster of 1980
* Andrzej Ciołek
* Construction of the Brześć Road
* Electio Viritim
* Free Speech Memorial
* Heart of Frédéric Chopin
* Garden of the Righteous
* Graditute to America †
* Władysław Hibner, Władysław Kniewski, and Henryk Rutkowski †
* Kilometre Pole
* Lindleya Street obelisk
* Mermaid (Old Town)
* Mermaid (Powiśle)
* Piłsudski Monument (Wawer)
* Piłsudski Memorial Stone (Ochota)
* Piłsudski Memorial Stone (Wesoła)
* Jerzy Popiełuszko Grave
* Praga Backyard Band
* Presidential Palace cross †
* Rębertów NKVD Special Camp Prisioners
* Royal Spring
* Smolensk Air Disaster
* Solidarity
* Teachers Memorial
* Victims of the Smolenk Tragedy of 2010
* Warsaw meridian

War memorials|

* Fallen in the Battle with the Swedes
* Millennium of the Polish Cavalry

November Uprising|

* Battle of Grochów †
* Capture of Warsaw †
* Fallen in the Battle of Grochów
* Loyalist Officers Fallen on the November Night †
* Tomb of the Unknown Soldier
* Military Gendarmerie Soldiers
* Uprising Cross

World War I|

* Aviator
* Dowbor's Soldiers
* Fallen Sappers †
* Military Endeavour of Polish Americans
* Military Gendarmerie Soldiers
* Polish Military Organisation
* Tomb of the Unknown Soldier

World War II|

* 1st Armoured Division
* 3rd Division Landing
* 27th Volhynian Infantry Division of the Home Army
* Anielewicz Bunker
* Battle of Monte Cassino
* Brotherhood in Arms †
* British Aviators Memorial
* Fallen and Murdered in the East
* Fallen in the Service and Defence of the People's Poland †
* Werner von Fritsch †
* Home Army Soldiers Fallen in the Attack on the Gdańsk Station
* Glory to the Sappers
* Heroes of Warsaw
* Katyń Memorial
* Katyń Chapel
* Katyń Valley
* Kościuszko Infantry Division
* Mausoleum of the Soviet Soldiers Cemetery
* Operation V1 and V2
* Partisan
* Pawiak Tree Monument
* Peasant Endeavor †
* Polish Aviators Fallen Between 1939 and 1945
* Polish Underground State and Home Army
* September Barricade
* Silent Unseen Paratroopers of the Home Army
* Soldiers of the First Polish Army
* Soldiers of the Peasant Battalions and the People's Union of Women
* Student Athletes Fallen in the World War II
* Tomb of the Unknown Soldier
* Tchorek plaques
* Victims of the German Executions in the Kawęczyn Woods
* Volhynian Massacre

Warsaw Uprising|

* Baszta Soldiers
* Chrobry I Battalion
* Czerniaków Insurgents and the First Polish Army
* Fallen British Aviators of 1944
* Fallen Undefeated
* Freedom Mast
* Gloria Victis
* The Little Insurrectionist
* Lord, save us, we perish
* Victims of the Wola Massacre
* Warsaw Insurgents
* Warsaw Uprising
* Warsaw Uprising Mound
* Wola Massacre
* Women of the Warsaw Uprising
* Zaremba–Piorun Battalion

The Holocaust|

* Bund and Tsukunft Members
* Children, the Victims of the Holocaust
* Evacuation of Warsaw Ghetto Fighters
* Footbridge of Memory
* Ghetto Heroes
* Jewish Officer of the Polish Armed Forces
* Jews and Poles Common Martyrdom
* Memorial Route of Jewish Martyrdom and Struggle
* Oświęcim II
* Partisans of the Mordechai Anielewicz Division of the People's Guard
* Umschlagplatz
* Warsaw Ghetto boundary markers
* Żegota
* Szmul Zygielbojm

Other works

* Ace the Dog
* Alina, a Girl with a Jug
* The Bather
* Cyryl the Independent Cat
* The Dancing Girl
* Greetings from Jerusalem Avenue
* Happy Dog
* In Honour to the Polish Ballet Artists
* Megalithic Circle
* The Music
* Peace Bell
* School Bench
* Student
* Potocki Mausoleum
* Rainbow †
* Rhythm
* Relay Race
* Skaryszew Park sculptures
* Urstynów sculptures
* Wola metal street sculptures

Key: † No longer extant, on public display or in Warsaw
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