Chopin Monument in Warsaw
The Frédéric Chopin Monument in Warsaw is a bronze monument by Frédéric Chopin in Łazienki Park in Warsaw . It depicts the composer under a Mazovian willow bent by the wind.
Along with the Warsaw mermaid , the Sigismund's Column , the Łazienki Palace and the Palace of Culture , this monument is one of the landmarks of the Polish capital. It was reproduced several times in calendars, on postcards, and on postage stamps. The Chopin monument was also copied - the most famous copy is in Hamamatsu , Japan.
Project and first construction
The monument was created by Wacław Szymanowski , who won a competition in 1909. It was supposed to be completed in 1910 on the occasion of the pianist's hundredth birthday. The competition jury included Antoine Bourdelle , Józef Pius Dziekoński , Miłosz Kotarbiński and Leopold Méyet . Since the project was controversial and the First World War interrupted work, the monument was not completed until the interwar period. The individual parts were cast in France, where a plaster model was located. Then the fragments were brought to Poland and put together in the Łazienki Park. The Chopin monument was ceremoniously unveiled on November 27, 1926. The area surrounding the monument - a base and a basin - was designed by Oskar Sosnowski, professor at the Faculty of Architecture at the Warsaw University of Technology . Antoni Urbanowski's company from Łódź was responsible for the stone work.
The destruction of the monument during World War II
On May 31, 1940, the Chopin monument was blown up by German occupiers and then cut into parts. The scrap was brought west by rail, where the parts were melted down in a German smelter and used as raw material. The Germans also tried to destroy all copies of the monument that were kept in the museums. An employee of the Wielkopolska Museum managed to hide a copy of the head in the basement.
Reconstruction after the war
Because of the devastation carried out by the Germans, the reconstruction of the monument after the war was very difficult. They searched for replicas and copies of the monument that could serve as a model. In 1945 workers in a factory in Wroclaw found the head of a Chopin monument on a heap of scrap. It didn't come from the Warsaw monument - it was one of many casts, much smaller than the original. A full copy of the monument was only found during the clearing of the ruins of Szymanowski's house in Warsaw's Mokotów district . Based on this copy, an attempt was made to build a faithful replica of the destroyed original. The monument was reconstructed and unveiled in 1958. Nowadays it stands near a pond in Łazienki Park . There are many benches around the monument, because Chopin concerts have been held here in summer since 1959. A piano is then placed on a specially designed platform at the foot of the monument. The park administration allows the audience to enter the lawn at this point.
The inscription on the base of the monument reads: The statue of Fryderyk Chopin - destroyed and stolen by the Germans on May 31, 1940 - will be rebuilt by the people. October 17, 1946.
There is also a quote from Konrad Wallenrod , a work by Adam Mickiewicz .
See also
Web links
literature
- Hanna Kotkowska-Bareja: Pomnik Chopina . PWN, Warsaw 1970.
- Tadeusz Łopieński: Okruchy brązu . PWN, Warsaw 1982.
Individual evidence
- ↑ K. Morawski, W. Glebocki: Bedeker warszawski: w 400 lecie stołeczności Warszawy . Warsaw 1996, ISBN 83-207-1525-3 , pp. 149-150.
Coordinates: 52 ° 12 ′ 53 ″ N , 21 ° 1 ′ 41 ″ E