It was designed in 1907 by
Wacław 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 Dziekoński 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 don’t know who destroyed me, but I know why: so that I won’t 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
Wąchock 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 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. ==Gallery==