HEIM - Fryderyk Chopin’s Warsaw. The virtuoso’s legacy (EN)
Trail photos
Author
Trail stats
- Distance
- 1.76 mi
- Elevation gain
- 26 ft
- Technical difficulty
- Easy
- Elevation loss
- 23 ft
- Max elevation
- 394 ft
- TrailRank
- 45
- Min elevation
- 342 ft
- Trail type
- One Way
- Time
- 17 minutes
- Coordinates
- 52
- Uploaded
- June 28, 2020
- Recorded
- June 2020
near Nowe Miasto, Województwo mazowieckie (Polska)
Viewed 1461 times, downloaded 8 times
Trail photos
Itinerary description
Waypoints
Waypoint
363 ft
Krasiński Square (pl. plac Krasińskich)
The sounds of Chopin’s music were heard in this place - in the now non-existent building of the National Theater. It stood in the place where the Warsaw Uprising monument is located currently. Fryderyk Chopin gave his first performance there on March 17th 1830 and in October of the same year he played his final farewell concert at the National Theatre.
Waypoint
362 ft
Miodowa Street – Honoratka Caffe
Chopin could often be seen on Krakowskie Przedmieście or Miodowa streets – rushing to his classes or to meet up with friends at one of his favourite cafes „Honoratka”, which drew people in for its delicious desserts and coffee with rum. To this day there is a place with the same name. Moving along Miodowa Street, Chopin often went towards the National Theater on Krasiński Square. At that time, it was one of Warsaw’s main roads and also one of busiest. There is also a Chopin’s musical bench on Miodowa street, which gives you the possibility of listening to Chopin’s Mazurka in A minor, Op. 68; 34 by pressing the button initiating thirty or forty seconds long fragments of his famous composition.
Waypoint
354 ft
Miodowa Street – Młodziejowski Palace
On the fence of the Młodziejowski Palace there is a plaque commemorating the first public performance of Fryderyk Chopin. Of course, Chopin's first public concert took place over 11 years earlier at the Radziwiłł Palace at Krakowskie Przedmieście. We could not find any connections between Chopin and this place.
Waypoint
357 ft
Kozia Street
Fryderyk Chopin often followed this way towards Miodowa Street, which at that time had no connection with Krakowskie Przedmieście St. In his day, the street was well-known for brothels, but also for numerous hotels and cafes, being a meeting place for writers and artists. Chopin’s letters tell us that his favourite café was „Pani Brzezińska” on Kozia Street, which is no longer in existence. One could read, relax, and meet esteemed writers or artists here. On Kozia street you can also sit on the Chopin’s musical bench and listen to the Song „Merrymaking”; 29.
Waypoint
360 ft
Building of the Charitable Society at Krakowskie Przedmieście
The Warsaw Charitable Society was the most dynamic institution of Warsaw in the early 19th century that contributed most in the area of assisting those who were poor, hungry and those unable to support themselves for whatever reason. The Society collected donations for its charges at charitable concerts it held on the first floor of its Krakowskie Przedmieście headquarters. The young 13-year-old Fryderyk Chopin performed Ferdinand Ries piano concert in one of those concerts on 24 February 1823. It was his second public performance.
Waypoint
353 ft
56 Krakowskie Przedmieście St., Dziekanka (eng. clergy house)
Józef Elsner, the teacher of Fryderyk Chopin, founder and director of the Warsaw Conservatory lived and worked in this house. When Chopin graduated from the Main School of Music, Elsner gave him the highest assessment and wrote on his certificate „special ability, musical genius”. The professor and the student had a bond of true friendship. On one of the Dziekanka walls there is a commemorative plaque dedicated to this unique man and composer.
Waypoint
362 ft
Wessel Palace
Situated in the rococo Wessel Palace, on the corner of Kozia and Trębacka Streets, near Krakowskie Przedmieście Street, was the royal post office, also known as the Saxon Post Office. Attached to the post office was a station from which parcels were dispatched and stage coaches departed. It was from here that on 2 November 1830 Chopin set out on what would be his farewell journey from Poland and left his homeland forever. Today, the fine rococo building houses a prosecutor’s office. In front of the Wessel Palace you can relax on the Chopin’s bench listening to the Grande Polonaise in E-flat major op. 22; 35.
Waypoint
367 ft
Radziwiłł Palace
Radziwiłł Palace, today known as the Presidential Palace (pl. Pałac Prezydencki), situated on Krakowskie Przedmieście is believed to have been the venue for Fryderyk Chopin’s first public performance. The concert took place on 24 February 1818 and was organised at the charity initiative of Countess Zofia Zamoyska by the Warsaw Charitable Society, chaired at that time by Julian Ursyn Niemcewicz. The brilliant young pianist, then eight years old, performed a piano concerto G minor of the Czech composer Adalbert Gyrowetz and delighted the audience. After the concert, the Warsaw’s press described Chopin as „little Chopin”, „a wonderful child” and „second Mozart”.
Waypoint
364 ft
The Czapski / Krasiński Palace
The Czapski/Krasiński Palace was a yet another place where the Chopins lived. In 1827, following the death of Emilka, Fryderyk’s youngest sister, the Chopins moved to a larger apartment, rented in the left wing of Krasiński Palace on Krakowskie Przedmieście (plot no. 410). Here Fryderyk was given his own room to work in. In a letter to Tytus Woyciechowski of 27 December 1828 he wrote: „There’s already a room upstairs that is intended to serve my convenience [...]. There I am to have an old piano and an old desk. It is to be my corner for hiding away”. The Chopins’ apartment was a very special place and a popular meeting spot for Warsaw’s elite, visited by numerous artists, scholars and young people. Rehearsals with orchestra musicians were also held there. At the beginning of 1830, at special musical soirees organised at the Chopins’ home, a group of the composer’s friends, musicians and columnists listened to the premiere performances of both piano concertos e-minor and f-minor before his premiere in the National Theatre. It was the last place of residence for Fryderyk before his departure on November 2nd 1830. We are reminded of the fact by a plaque placed on the frontal façade of the building. A small museum of souvenirs, called the Chopin Salon, was organized in this place. There are no items belonging to the Chopin’s family in the salon, however the 19th-century furniture is exhibited there, as well as two pianos from the first half of the 19th century and a Pleyel piano from the same period of time, as well as family portraits and views of 19th-century Warsaw. You may seat on the Chopin’s bench located close to the palace and listen to the Waltz in D flat major, Op. 64 No. 1; 42.
Waypoint
361 ft
Kazimierzowski Palace (pl. Pałac Kazimierzowski)
On their removal from the Saxon Palace in March 1817, the Chopin family spent the next ten years in a spacious apartment on the second floor of the left annexe of Kazimierzowski Palace on 26/28 Krakowskie Przedmieście street. Fryderyk Chopin was educated at home up to the age of 13. In September 1823, he became a pupil of the Warsaw Lyceum, immediately joining the fourth year (there were six grades at the school). The school was located in the main building of Kazimierzowski Palace, while just next door, in the annex, the Chopin family resided in an apartment provided by the school. Kazimierzowski Park, formerly known as „the Botanics” (pl. Botanika), is located on an escarpment flanking the back walls of the Kazimierzowski Palace. Later, „the Botanics” were converted into a recreation park, with Fryderyk Chopin witnessing the development. He wrote that, as a result, carrots had been replaced with flower-beds. When Fryderyk was enrolled at the Lyceum, the Kazimierzowski Park was where he met up with friends, went for strolls, and read books on one of the benches. Sitting on the Chopin bench next to the palace you can listen to the Waltz in E minor (op. Posth.); 45
Waypoint
386 ft
The Church of the Holy Cross
Holy Cross Church was the Chopins’ parish church when he lived in Krakowskie Przedmieście Street. Today, the church remains firmly associated with the composer because of the presence of the urn containing the heart of Fryderyk Chopin inside the walls, which, in accordance with the composer’s wishes, was brought to Poland by his elder sister, Ludwika. On the Chopin’s bench placed here, you can listen to the Funeral March from Sonata in B-flat minor Op.35; 45.
Waypoint
370 ft
The Zamoyski Palace
W jednym z pomieszczeń Pałacu mieszkała kiedyś młodsza siostra Chopina, Izabella. W swoim mieszkaniu przechowywała rzeczy należące do brata. Pamiątki przetrwały do momentu nieudanego zamachu, którego dokonano z okien Pałacu Zamoyskiego. W odwecie żołnierze carscy wyrzucili wszystkich lokatorów pałacu, a ich mieszkania zostały zdewastowane i ograbione. Żołnierze rosyjscy roztrzaskali i spalili fortepian Fryderyka Chopina, a także inne pamiątki rodzinne. Wydarzenie to zainspirowało jednego z najważniejszych polskich poetów – Cypriana Kamila Norwida – do napisania wiersza „Fortepian Chopina”. Na ławeczce Chopinowskiej ustawionej przy pałacu możecie posłuchać Etiudy c-moll, op. 10 nr 12; 42”.
Waypoint
345 ft
The Chopin Museum
Fryderyk Chopin Museum located at Tamka Street is a must-see for anyone wandering the Fryderyk Chopin trail! The Chopin Museum houses the world’s largest collection of Chopin memorabilia and its sightseeing may take several hours. It is worth ending the walk here. In addition to walking around Warsaw’s Old Town district, it is also worth visiting Łazienki Królewskie park (eng. Royal baths), which can be reached by public transport from the „Ordynacka 01” stop by bus lines: 116 or 180 to the” Łazienki Królewskie 01” stop (on foot about 4 km from the Chopin Museum). Belvedere After the year 1822, the young Fryderyk, who had already gained a reputation as a talented pianist, was a regular guest of Grand Duke Constantine and his wife, Joanna, née Grudzińska, to give concerts in their palace - Belvedere. The Belvedere adjoins the Royal Baths Park. The building luckily escaped destruction during World War II. Chopin monument in the Royal Baths Park (pl. Łazienki Królewskie) The Chopin Monument in the Royal Baths Park, the work of Wacław Szymanowski, is the best-known Polish sculpture in the world. In 1908 Szymanowski, a prominent artist and sculptor, won the competition to create a monument to commemorate the centenary of the composer’s birth which fell in 1910. Tsar Nicholas I gave his consent to erecting the statue after yielding to the requests of Adelajda Bolska, a Polish prima donna. However, the monument was not installed until 1926, a few years after Poland had regained independence. The bronze monument depicts the Polish composer sitting under a weeping willow. The branches of the tree are falling as if swept by a strong wind to create a picturesque setting. Above Chopin’s head they take the form of a hand palm. Chopin was shown as a musician seeking inspiration, slightly tilted back, engrossed in the sounds of nature. His right hand is raised in the air - as if above the keyboard of an invisible piano, just when the artist is looking for the right tone. The whole composition reminds of a monumental harp. In 1940, the monument was destroyed by the Nazis. It was broken into pieces and sent to foundries to be melted down. The reconstructed monument was unveiled in 1958. In the summer (from mid-May until late September), every Sunday, Chopin concerts are held at the foot of the monument. While seating on the Chopin bench situated next to the Chopin Monument, listen to the Polonaise in A major Op. 40 No. 1; 39”.
Comments (1)
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Nice way to discover Warsaw and to learn more about Chopin. I would recommend to merge this with the Marie Curie trail.