Fryderyk Chopin Museum

The Fryderyk Chopin Museum is situated in Ostrogski Castle (formerly Gniński Palace). The palace was built at the end of the seventeenth century and is one of many historic buildings near the Royal Route that resulted from the expansion of aristocratic residences. From the mid nineteenth century onwards, the palace was occupied by the Institute of Music and then the Conservatory, which was moved to a nearby site that now bears the name Fryderyk Chopin University of Music.

The Fryderyk Chopin Institute was set up in 1934. That was a major step towards laying the foundations of the Museum’s collections. The Institute assumed the mission of the Chopin Section of the Warsaw Music Society (est. 1899) to collect Chopin memorabilia, document his life and popularise his work. The Museum now has a collection of more than 7,500 exhibits, and new ones are being added constantly. The collection includes musical manuscripts in Chopin’s hand, correspondence the composer wrote and received, and iconography connected with him and with people important in his life, work and reception.

A permanent multimedia exhibition was unveiled in the palace in 2010 to mark the bicentennial of Chopin’s birth. This is the largest exhibition ever displayed there and it groups biographical and artistic threads as thematic islands. It takes up four floors (approx. 900 m²) and attracts more than 90,000 people every year.