The following is a compilation of memorials to the composer
Frédéric Chopin in the form of physical monuments, institutions, and other entities named after him.
Chopin's Polish residences
Saxon Palace, seen from
Saxon Garden behind the Palace, 1764. Chopin and his family lived here from 1810 until 1817. The Saxon Palace was destroyed in
World War II.
Fryderyk Chopin's principal Polish residences survive — most of them rebuilt from the devastations of World War II — except for the
Saxon Palace, where his father
Mikołaj Chopin in October 1810 (when Fryderyk was six months old) took a post teaching French at the
Warsaw Lyceum, housed in the Saxon Palace. The Chopin family lived on the premises.
In 1817, the Saxon Palace was requisitioned by Warsaw's Russian governor for military use, and the Warsaw Lyceum was reestablished in the
Kazimierz Palace (today the rectorate of
Warsaw University).[1] Fryderyk and his family moved to an extant building (center photo, below) adjacent to the Kazimierz Palace.
In 1827, soon after the death of Chopin's youngest sister Emilia, the family moved from the Warsaw University building adjacent to the
Kazimierz Palace, to lodgings just across the street from the university in the south annex of the
Krasiński Palace on
Krakowskie Przedmieście. Chopin lived there until he left Warsaw in 1830. The Krasiński Palace is now the
Warsaw Academy of Fine Arts.
The Germans destroyed the
Saxon Palace in
World War II. Plans have been put forward to rebuild it. It was in the Saxon Palace (at the time, the
Polish General Staff building) that civilian mathematicians working at the General Staff's
Cipher Bureau, beginning in 1932, broke Germany's
Enigma machine ciphers — an achievement that would be of great importance to the outcome of World War II.[2]
Warsaw University building where Chopin's family lived, 1817–27, embellished (center) with his profile and (foreground) with a piano keyboard formed of flowers, June 2018
Chopin's heart, preserved in alcohol,[3] was sealed in 1882 within a pillar of the
Holy Cross Church, behind a tablet carved by
Leonard Marconi.[4] The tablet bears an inscription from Matthew VI:21: "For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also."[5] (See photo of the Church pillar, with
epitaph.)
The Holy Cross Church stands only a short distance from Chopin's last Warsaw residence, the
Krasiński Palace, which bears a plaque commemorating Chopin.
There are three Chopin monuments in
Żelazowa Wola: an
obelisk from 1894, a bronze statue from 1969, and a
sandstone bust from 1984.[6]
There is a monument to Chopin at the
Szafarnia manor house where he stayed for holidays with a school friend in 1824 and 1825.
In 1897, a Chopin memorial was erected in the town of
Duszniki-Zdrój, where in 1826, 16-year-old Chopin played his first concert outside of the
Russian Partition of Poland. A Chopin statue was erected in 1976, and it stands in the Spa Park in front of the Fryderyk Chopin Theatre.
For the 2010 bicentennial of Chopin's birth, 14 "Chopin's Warsaw" ("Warszawa Chopina") benches were placed in Warsaw near Chopin landmarks. They stand near Chopin landmarks such as the
Krasiński Palace, the
Carmelite Church where he played the organ as a boy, and the Wessel Palace where in 1830 he boarded a stage for Vienna. Pressing a button on a bench makes it play a few bars of a Chopin composition.[9]
Plaque (placed in 2010, on Chopin's 200th birth anniversary) commemorating the 8-year-old's first public performance, in today's
Presidential Palace, Warsaw, for the Warsaw Philanthropic Society, 24 February 1818
The world's oldest monographic music competition, the
International Chopin Piano Competition, founded in 1927, is held every five years in Warsaw. Periodically, the Grand Prix du Disque de F. Chopin is awarded for notable Chopin recordings.
The
Fryderyk Chopin Museum, established in 1954, is housed in Warsaw's
Ostrogski Palace, the seat of the Fryderyk Chopin Society. The Museum was refurbished in 2010 for the 200th anniversary of Chopin's birth.
Chopin's Birthplace in
Żelazowa Wola is operated as a museum by the Fryderyk Chopin Museum.[26]
The following is a compilation of memorials to the composer
Frédéric Chopin in the form of physical monuments, institutions, and other entities named after him.
Chopin's Polish residences
Saxon Palace, seen from
Saxon Garden behind the Palace, 1764. Chopin and his family lived here from 1810 until 1817. The Saxon Palace was destroyed in
World War II.
Fryderyk Chopin's principal Polish residences survive — most of them rebuilt from the devastations of World War II — except for the
Saxon Palace, where his father
Mikołaj Chopin in October 1810 (when Fryderyk was six months old) took a post teaching French at the
Warsaw Lyceum, housed in the Saxon Palace. The Chopin family lived on the premises.
In 1817, the Saxon Palace was requisitioned by Warsaw's Russian governor for military use, and the Warsaw Lyceum was reestablished in the
Kazimierz Palace (today the rectorate of
Warsaw University).[1] Fryderyk and his family moved to an extant building (center photo, below) adjacent to the Kazimierz Palace.
In 1827, soon after the death of Chopin's youngest sister Emilia, the family moved from the Warsaw University building adjacent to the
Kazimierz Palace, to lodgings just across the street from the university in the south annex of the
Krasiński Palace on
Krakowskie Przedmieście. Chopin lived there until he left Warsaw in 1830. The Krasiński Palace is now the
Warsaw Academy of Fine Arts.
The Germans destroyed the
Saxon Palace in
World War II. Plans have been put forward to rebuild it. It was in the Saxon Palace (at the time, the
Polish General Staff building) that civilian mathematicians working at the General Staff's
Cipher Bureau, beginning in 1932, broke Germany's
Enigma machine ciphers — an achievement that would be of great importance to the outcome of World War II.[2]
Warsaw University building where Chopin's family lived, 1817–27, embellished (center) with his profile and (foreground) with a piano keyboard formed of flowers, June 2018
Chopin's heart, preserved in alcohol,[3] was sealed in 1882 within a pillar of the
Holy Cross Church, behind a tablet carved by
Leonard Marconi.[4] The tablet bears an inscription from Matthew VI:21: "For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also."[5] (See photo of the Church pillar, with
epitaph.)
The Holy Cross Church stands only a short distance from Chopin's last Warsaw residence, the
Krasiński Palace, which bears a plaque commemorating Chopin.
There are three Chopin monuments in
Żelazowa Wola: an
obelisk from 1894, a bronze statue from 1969, and a
sandstone bust from 1984.[6]
There is a monument to Chopin at the
Szafarnia manor house where he stayed for holidays with a school friend in 1824 and 1825.
In 1897, a Chopin memorial was erected in the town of
Duszniki-Zdrój, where in 1826, 16-year-old Chopin played his first concert outside of the
Russian Partition of Poland. A Chopin statue was erected in 1976, and it stands in the Spa Park in front of the Fryderyk Chopin Theatre.
For the 2010 bicentennial of Chopin's birth, 14 "Chopin's Warsaw" ("Warszawa Chopina") benches were placed in Warsaw near Chopin landmarks. They stand near Chopin landmarks such as the
Krasiński Palace, the
Carmelite Church where he played the organ as a boy, and the Wessel Palace where in 1830 he boarded a stage for Vienna. Pressing a button on a bench makes it play a few bars of a Chopin composition.[9]
Plaque (placed in 2010, on Chopin's 200th birth anniversary) commemorating the 8-year-old's first public performance, in today's
Presidential Palace, Warsaw, for the Warsaw Philanthropic Society, 24 February 1818
The world's oldest monographic music competition, the
International Chopin Piano Competition, founded in 1927, is held every five years in Warsaw. Periodically, the Grand Prix du Disque de F. Chopin is awarded for notable Chopin recordings.
The
Fryderyk Chopin Museum, established in 1954, is housed in Warsaw's
Ostrogski Palace, the seat of the Fryderyk Chopin Society. The Museum was refurbished in 2010 for the 200th anniversary of Chopin's birth.
Chopin's Birthplace in
Żelazowa Wola is operated as a museum by the Fryderyk Chopin Museum.[26]