Chopin Concerts in Lazienki

On Sundays from mid-May to late September, two free piano recitals are given in Lazienki Park at the foot of the Chopin monument, at noon and again in the late afternoon. The series has run since 1959 and is among the longest-standing regular open-air concert series in Europe. Pianists range from students to internationally known performers, and the programme is Chopin. The monument itself is worth arriving early for: designed by Waclaw Szymanowski, it shows Chopin seated under a wind-blown willow whose branches are shaped to suggest a hand, an Art Nouveau conception that took from 1907 to 1926 to be built because of arguments and then the war, was destroyed by the occupiers in 1940 and recast in 1958 from the original model. People sit on the grass and on benches around the pond; there are no tickets and no reserved seats, and the concerts run in light rain but not in heavy.

What you actually see

• Free Sunday recitals - two a day from mid-May to late September, since 1959.
• Szymanowski's monument - Chopin under a willow shaped like a hand.
• A destroyed and recast statue - blown up in 1940, remade in 1958 from the model.
• An audience on the grass - no tickets, no reserved seating.

When to go

Sundays, mid-May to late September. Two hours.

Honest expectations

There is no seating to speak of - bring something to sit on and come early. Concerts are cancelled in heavy rain. The park is very busy on concert days. Sound is amplified and the setting is open-air, not a hall.

Nearby

The Palace on the Isle and the Old Orangery are in the same park.