Geograph - photograph every grid square

The 2.5 metre wide stylised bronze statue of composer Fryderyk Chopin seated at the piano, was unveiled on Deansgate in the centre of Manchester on 16th September, 2011. It is the largest statue of Chopin outside Poland.

Link Polish Heritage Society

The plaque (SJ8398 : Chopin Plaque) reads:

Fryderyk Chopin
Born 1810, Żelazowa Wola, Poland Died 1849, Paris, France

Fryderyk Chopin was one of the world’s greatest musical composers.
His compositions combined elements of his beloved Polish culture
with universal ones , which gave his music wide international appeal.

He visited Manchester in the year before his death at the early age of 39.
On Monday, August 28th, 1848, a gravely ill Fryderyk Chopin gave
a Gala Concert before a rapturous audience of 1200
at the Gentlemen’s Concert Hall, which was situated at the corner of
Peter Street and Lower Moseley Street.

Despite serious Ill-health he insisted that he would perform, a fact which has forever
endeared him to Mancunians and music lovers everywhere.