Several decades ago Chicago's Polish community lobbied to create a holiday for famed Revolutionary War general Casimir Pulaski and now the city's Poles are approaching the final stretch of a long effort to build a memorial to the legendary pianist and composer Frédéric Chopin. The Chicago Chopin Foundation introduced the plan to erect the statue (a replica of the one in Warsaw) shortly after the composer's 200th birthday in 2010. Last summer the Chicago Park District approved the plan, and now it's just up to the Chicago Chopin Foundation to raise the funds to have the statue built. Bob O'Neill of the Grant Park Conservancy tells us that the statue and garden will not just be a idle memorial to the composer, but the plan is to activate the space just west of the 11th Street pedestrian bridge. "We are increasingly activating Grant Park and making it more interesting and engaging," O'Neill states, "The idea is to create a garden that is active and has performances and draws people into the park."
At this point, there's no set timeline on when the Chopin statue will finally make its way to Grant Park, however the arduous approval process and paperwork is out of the way. Once it is erected however, the statue and small garden will join a transformed Grant Park that now includes Maggie Daley Park and a new skate park.
·Project Overview [Chopin Memorial in Chicago]
·Small Chopin Garden & Statue to Be Built Between 11th Street Pedestrian Bridge and Michigan Ave. in Grant Park [Sloopin]
·Projects [Grant Park Conservancy]
·Previous Grant Park coverage [Curbed Chicago]
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