Monument to Chopin in Shanghai

Brief information

In Shanghai, Chopin received not a modest chamber-style bust, but the largest monument to himself in the world: the bronze figure of the composer reaches 6 meters, and together with the pedestal, 7 meters. The scale matters here not as a record for its own sake. It immediately changes the usual expectation: the Polish virtuoso pianist becomes a prominent urban figure in the Chinese park named after Sun Yat-sen.

The monument was unveiled on March 3, 2007, at the initiative of the Chinese sculptor Lu Pin; the project was supported by the Shanghai authorities and Poland’s Ministry of Culture. It is Shanghai’s second monument dedicated to a foreigner, after the bust of Pushkin from the 1930s. Therefore, the place reads not only as a remembrance of the composer, but also as a rare gesture for the city of cultural dedication to a person from another country.

What to notice first

It makes sense to compare three things: the bronze figure, the pedestal, and the park surroundings. The bronze emphasizes the monument’s status, while the height together with the pedestal makes the image of Chopin not a private musical theme, but a major urban sign. The pedestal adds another meter to the figure and literally separates the composer from the level of the walking space.

Near the monument in the same park, Chopin Avenue has been named and a museum about his life and work has been built. These elements are important as the continuation of a single concept: the composer’s name here is not limited to one sculpture. The fact about Pushkin helps one see the rarity of the monument more precisely: Chopin became part of a very short list of foreigners for whom Shanghai erected a separate monument.