Located in the city centre, on the left bank of the Rhine, in the multinational district of Plainpalais, the neo-Romanesque church of St Francis de Sales (François de Sales) dating from 1902-1904 conceals several works of minor architecture. One of these is the epitaph of Wojciech Grzymała (1793-1871), a distinguished political activist in the Kingdom of Poland.

Wojciech Grzymała - biography

Wojciech Grzymała was born in Dunajowce. As a young man, he was educated at a military school. As a soldier in the army of the Duchy of Warsaw, he took an active part in the campaigns of 1809 and 1812, distinguishing himself in the Battle of Borodino, for which he was awarded the Virtuti Militari Cross. From 1812 to 1815 he was in Russian captivity in Poltava. He was a member of the conservative Patriotic Society, which led to his arrest and imprisonment in St Petersburg in 1828-1829. In the 1830s, as one of the directors of the Bank of Poland, he acted as a diplomatic agent for the National Government in Paris and London, negotiating loans and arms supplies. Among his contributions were the co-founding of the Historical and Literary Society in Paris, the publication of numerous speeches and articles, and patronage of the arts.

During his stay in France, Grzymała became one of Fryderyk Chopin's closest friends. Interestingly, he also became a trusted advisor to the composer, who was seventeen years his junior, and a confidant of his beloved, George Sand. The great intimacy between the two men is attested by the correspondence that has survived and by Grzymała's proposal to the press for a collective edition of Chopin's works, made shortly after his friend's death.

Epitaph plaque

Wojciech Grzymała's epitaph is located to the left of the church entrance. The epitaph is a slab made in white marble in the shape of a shield topped with oak leaves and a cross with engraved gilded inscriptions documenting the life of the buried in Polish, French and Latin: "† Here rests the late / Wojciech Grzymala b. 1793 † 1870 / God-faithful meritorious Fatherland / Compatriot! Sigh to God for the peace / of his soul / Albert Grzymala né en 1793 / Soldat de la Grande Armée / Member du Gouvt National de Pologne / Prissonier en Russie - emigré en France / Décédé à Nyon 16 Xbre 1870 / Exhumé et déposé dans cette / Eglise an 1905 / requiescat in pace" (French text different from Polish: 'Wojciech Grzymała b. 1793 / Soldier of the [Napoleonic] Grand Army / Member of the Polish National Government / Prisoner in Russia - émigré in France / Died in Nyon on 16 October 1870 / Exhumed and deposited in this / Church in 1905').