The Frydryk Chopin Museum

Today we took a short¹ unguided tour of the Chopin museum. This modern museum was full of modern interactive exhibits, though the majority seemed to be partially or entirely out of order. There were still plenty of old-fashioned placards to read as well as physical exhibits of music and writings of Chopin.

I started in the basement, where there were several audio stations to listen to Chopin's compostitions. There were stations for each of Chopin's composition types (Muzerkas, Sonatas, etc.) and each played a sample of one of those pieces. On this floor there were also displayed the winning portraits of Chopin, entered by Polish students. The art varied in material and style drastically. Some pieces were almost photographic, others unidentifiable as human (I suppose these represented his soul or art rather than body.)

On the ground floor were scraps of Chopin's correspondences and work. A few of the original and replicate compositions were on display here. I didn't go inside the toddler play room.

The first floor had a non-functional game of some sort "Musical Twister" but it seemed to be offline. There were also several stations with interviews discussing Chopin's life and work.

On the top floor, Chopin's death and final days were presented. In a room with black floor, walls, and ceiling there were drawings depicting Chopin's final moments. There were some of his final correspondences and portraits of him done at the end of his life. Finally, there was a copy of his death mask and a lock of hair taken by his family before embalming.