Warsaw Attractions

Venue: Royal Lazienki Park    When: Daily

On the western edge of Warsaw's splended Royal Lazienki Park, Waclaw Szymanowski's imposing sculpture in honour of Poland's most famous muscial son, Fryderyk Chopin, was erected in 1926. Although destroyed during the ravages of the Second World War, it was restored in 1958 and now is a popular place to go walking.

Chopin was born in 1810, at Zelazowa Wola, some 50km (30 miles) west of Warsaw. By the age of eight he had already performed in Warsaw and returned there when he was 12 to study. Recognised as both a composer and brilliant performer, and with two concertos under his belt, Chopin visited Vienna in 1829, to great success. On a similar visit in late 1830 he found it much harder to make an impact. On his way to Paris - just as he had arrived in Stuttgart - he learned that the Russians had invaded his beloved homeland and, tragically, he never saw Poland again.

He became the darling of the Paris salons, fêted by Berlioz, Schumann and Liszt alike: indeed it was Liszt who introduced Chopin to the authoress Amandine Aurore Lucie Dupin, who published under the name George Sand. The two artists lived together for nearly the whole of the 1840s - with the shy composer thankful of being able to compose at Sand's summer house in Nohant - but eventually they split, and shortly after - following an exhausting tour of Britain - Chopin died in Paris of chronic lung disease. His heart is now encased in a pillar of Warsaw's Church of the Holy Cross, and Warsaw's Fryderyck Chopin Society runs a museum in the city.

During the summer Warsaw's Fryderyk Chopin Society arranges Sunday afternoon concerts at the memorial at 12pm and 4pm.