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In the Shadow of Chopin
The Fryderyk Chopin Museum in honour of the “poet of the piano”. (Ramy Salameh)
Peering from the stately windows of the baroque Ostrogski Palace that houses the Fryderyk Chopin Museum, I could see a dramatic vista that stretched from old to contemporary and on to the future. From my perch within the colonnaded and marbled staircase within the palace, I looked across towards a vibrant piece of graffiti art covering the gable-end of a nondescript apartment block.
The modern mural is one of three dotted across the city that pay tribute to and in part helped celebrate the 200th anniversary of the birth of Chopin, which took place back in 2010. The museum formed the centre point of those celebrations and has now become a high-tech multimedia exhibition centre charting the life of this world-renowned musician, within the majestic framework of the 18th and rebuilt 19thcentury building.
Changing urban landscape
Rising above the mural and across the roof tops of Warsaw, Poland, the city landscape boasts a new crown-shaped national stadium, sitting proudly on the other side of the Vistula River. The architecturally refined arena is patriotically clad in “red and white” and is waiting in gladiatorial anticipation for Euro 2012 to kick-off in June, when it will reverberate to the roar of “Polska Polska”. It is part of Warsaw’s future and continued regeneration since EU membership in 2004.
The aspect I viewed from the Museum reflected only a segment of Warsaw’s very long and turbulent history, which eventually altered the face of Poland’s capital, but encapsulated the spirit of its people. The national stadium was the focal point of the vista I was admiring, but this did not include the city’s most dominant structure, The Palace of Culture & Science, a gift from Stalin during the Russian occupation that followed the other oppressive regime of Nazism, which brutally reduced the city to rubble and permanently changed Warsaw forever.
Warsovians say “The best view of the city is from the top of the Palace of Culture & Science as one cannot see Stalin’s gift to the Polish people”, such are the memories of communism. To an unbiased eye the palace is a magnificent edifice and was officially opened on August 21, 1955. It remains the most imposing building in Warsaw at 231 metres high, as stated on a plaque next to the lifts that ascend to the concrete summit in just 21 seconds.
The Palace of Science & Culture, the most visible landmark of Warsaw. (Ramy Salameh)
Chopin’s early years
Chopin lived half his life in Warsaw; it was here that his musical genius was first recognised. Nowy Swiat, today a vibrant and boutique-filled avenue forming part of the “Royal Route”, was often walked by Chopin and provided the early inspiration for his works, before he eventually moved to Paris.
The Warsaw of Chopin’s day was the one depicted in a series of paintings created by the Italian artist Canelletto. So intricate and keenly observed were these pictures by the artist that after World War II his paintings were used as references from which to reconstruct the Old Town – the jewel in the crown of Warsaw and a UNESCO world heritage site, an accolade that was granted to the city in 1980.
The Chopin family rented an apartment by Krakowskie Przedmiescie St. When, in 1810, Fryderyk’s father obtained a teaching post at the Warsaw Lyceum, they moved into the second floor of the Saxon Palace, which housed the apartments for professors until 1817.
Next page … During 1817 the Lyceum was moved from the Saxon Palace to Kazimierzowski Palace.
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