The statue of Frédéric Chopin () is a large bronze statue of Frédéric Chopin (1810âÂÂ1849), designed by Wacà Âaw Szymanowski, that stands in the upper part of Warsaw's Royal Baths Park (also known as à Âazienki Park), adjacent to Aleje Ujazdowskie (Ujazdów Avenue).
It was designed in 1907 by Wacà Âaw 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. The members of the jury who selected the winning project included such figures as Antoine Bourdelle, Józef Pius Dziekoà Âski and Leopold Méyet.
The statue was blown up on 31 May 1940, during World War II, on the order of Governor-General Hans Frank 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 donâÂÂt know who destroyed me, but I know why: so that I wonâÂÂt 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 WÃÂ chock sandstone. 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'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 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 also preliminary plans to erect another replica along Chicago's lakefront, in addition to a different sculpture commemorating the artist in Chopin Park.
Szymanowski's statue was the world's tallest Chopin monument until the unveiling, on 3 March 2007, of a slightly taller, modernistic bronze in Shanghai, China.