Frédéric Chopin (1810–1849) arrived in the French capital on 5 October 1831. He maintained contact with the most prominent figures in the local artistic community, including the composers Franz Liszt (1811–1886) and Hector Berlioz (1803–1869), and the painter Eugène Delacroix (1798–1863). He played an active part in the life of the Polish émigré community and was friends with Cyprian Kamil Norwid (1821–1883) and Adam Mickiewicz (1798–1855). He immersed himself in the local atmosphere and culture, gave concerts, and also taught piano.

Over time, due to his deteriorating health, his artistic activities gradually became more limited. Fryderyk Chopin died on 17 October 1849. Research carried out on the composer’s heart by a team of Polish scientists in 2014 enabled them to determine the cause of death, which was pericarditis resulting from previous tuberculosis.

Chopin’s funeral

Chopin’s funeral took place on 30 October at the Church of St Mary Magdalene in Paris. The solemn funeral procession to Père-Lachaise Cemetery, led by Prince Adam Jerzy Czartoryski (1770–1861), a crowd of Chopin’s friends and compatriots, as well as many prominent figures from the French cultural world, took part. The composer was, of course, bid farewell with music – during the funeral, excerpts from Mozart’s Requiem were performed, amongst other pieces, which was one of Chopin’s final wishes.

Fryderyk Chopin’s grave at Père-Lachaise Cemetery

Chopin’s final resting place is adorned with a monument by the French painter and sculptor Jean-Baptiste Clésinger (known as Auguste; 1814–1883). It was unveiled on 17 October 1850, the first anniversary of the composer’s death. The gravestone consists of a simple plinth, upon which stands a marble figure of the muse Euterpe leaning over a broken lyre. The front of the plinth is adorned with a medallion bearing a portrait of Chopin in left-profile. Above it is the inscription: ‘À FRÉD. CHOPIN / SES AMIS’ (To Frédéric Chopin / his friends).

Further inscriptions in French are placed on the side walls of the plinth and provide information about Chopin’s place of birth and his family origins.

Following extensive efforts by the Polish side, Fryderyk Chopin’s grave was finally listed as a Historic Monument in 2008, in accordance with a decree issued by the Minister of Culture and Communication of the French Republic. This designation obliges the owner of the site to take all necessary measures to ensure professional conservation care.

Towards the end of 2016, the Polish Ministry of Culture and National Heritage decided to secure funding and to seek conservation permits to carry out comprehensive work on Chopin’s grave. The Society for the Protection of Polish Monuments and Historic Graves in France applied to the authorities of the Île-de-France region for a permit. The conservation work was carried out by Polish conservators between 2017 and 2018, thanks to funding from the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage’s programme, secured by the Terpa Foundation for the Protection of Shared Cultural Heritage.

The gravestone at Père-Lachaise Cemetery is not Clésinger’s only work dedicated to Frédéric Chopin. The sculptor, who was married to Solange Dupin (1828–1899), the daughter of George Sand (1804–1876), with whom Chopin had a relationship, produced around 17 works dedicated to the composer. The day after his death, he took two casts of his face to create death masks and made a cast of his left hand. The replicas of Chopin’s death mask known today are a retouched depiction of the composer’s face, distorted by death.

Chopin’s heart

In accordance with Chopin’s last will, his heart was brought back to his homeland. This wish – apart from a desire to return, even in this form, to his homeland – was dictated by the fear, common at the time, of apparent death and being buried whilst still alive. Chopin’s heart was secretly transported to Warsaw by his elder sister, Ludwika Jędrzejewicz (1807–1855), in January 1850. She hid the jar containing the organ beneath her clothes for fear of being searched. Ultimately, the heart was placed in the Church of the Holy Cross in Warsaw – the artist’s family parish church.

For many years, it was not properly displayed – it was initially placed in the sacristy, then stored in the catacombs. It was not until 1880 that it was finally honoured and moved to the upper church, where an epitaph plaque dedicated to Frédéric Chopin was unveiled. It bears a highly evocative quotation from the Gospel according to St Matthew: ‘Where your treasure is, there your heart will be also’.