A bronze bust of renowned Polish composer Fryderyk Chopin is currently travelling across Canada, a driving distance of almost 4,400 kilometres. The bust, which is travelling by truck, will stop at various Polish communities and cultural hubs before its permanent installation in Edmonton.
In describing the idea behind bringing the sculpture to Canada, Andrzej Mańkowski, Poland’s consul general in Vancouver, told the Polish Press Agency (PAP) that “there has been no Chopin monument or bust in Canada so far. We wanted it to be a bust made of bronze, commissioned in Poland.”
Mańkowski reasoned that if there could be a bust of Hungarian composer Béla Bartók at the music department of the University of British Columbia, then Fryderyk Chopin (later known as Frédéric Chopin) also deserved to have his own monument in Western Canada.
“After arriving in Toronto on a LOT plane on January 23, the sculpture set off with a truck driver who is reporting the entire journey on his YouTube channel,” Mańkowski said. “There have already been stops in Montreal, Quebec and Winnipeg, Manitoba, and the truck continues west, to Vancouver in British Columbia.”
After it reaches the Canadian west coast, the bust will travel to its final destination in Edmonton, according to the Vancouver Chopin Society. As well as organising various cultural events in Vancouver, the society invites the winners of Chopin Competitions to Canada.
The bust of Chopin is currently being driven across Canada by Polish truck driver Zbyszek Giza from the Tri-Pol Entreprises transport company. The company offered to transport the sculpture for free.
Giza runs a YouTube channel where he has been uploading videos documenting his journey with the composer’s sculpture from the east to the west of Canada. Various Polish diplomats in Canada have also shared images on social media of their encounters with the bust in their consular districts.
According to Mańkowski, Giza and the bust have been met with “the sympathy and kindness of the Polish community” along their journey. He added that Giza has purposefully stopped along places that have clusters of Polish communities along the route, to encourage people to “meet” the bust.
The Vancouver Chopin Society has described the significance of the bust’s journey as “a real symbol of the universality of Chopin’s music, touching people’s minds and hearts wherever it is played”.
The travelling bust is a copy of the composer’s head from the Chopin monument in the Royal Łazienki Park in Warsaw. Completed in 1926, the original monument in Warsaw was designed by Wacław Szymanowski and Franciszek Mączyński.
Main image credit: Consulate General of the Republic of Poland in Vancouver / Facebook
Anna Hackett is an assistant editor at Notes from Poland. She is a recent graduate of European Studies from Trinity College Dublin and has had previous journalistic experience with the Irish Independent News & Media group.
