POLAND

Famous people of our region and country

NICOLAS COPERNICUS

JAN KASPROWICZ

JAN MATEJKO ŁUKASZ PAWŁOWSKI

FRYDERYK CHOPIN

• Fryderyk Chopin was born on 22 February 1810 in Żelazowa Wola. He was the greatest Polish composer. His father, Mikołaj Chopin was French and his mother, Justyna Krzyżanowska, came from Kuyavian region. Chopin took over his musical talents after his mother who played the piano and sang. She was little Chopen’s first teacher of music.

• Together with his older sister he played music at home . Soon he tried to write his own pieces of music. His first work, Polonaise B-dur was written down by his father.

The Żelazowa Wola where Fryderyk Chopin was born.

The house in Żelazowa Wola where Fryderyk Chopin was

born.

Chopin was a sociable person. Such outstanding composers as Franciszek List, Gioacchino Rossini and Felix Mendelson were his friends. Chopin gave his last concert for the Warsaw audience in October 1830. On 2nd November he left Warsaw forever and went first to Dresden and then to Viena, Munich and Stuttgart.In September 1831 he settled in Paris where he gained European fame.Soon he gave lots of concerts. Performing his own music, he strengthened his position as a composer and a pianist. Yet, teaching was the main source of his income. He had lots of students both amateurs and professionals who studied to be pianists.

Chopin suffered from tuberculosis. He died on 17 October 1849 and was burried in Perre-Lachaise cemetery in Paris, but his heart is in St. Cross Church in Warsaw in Krakowskie Przedmieście Street.

A famous sentence can summarize his life – „He was a Polish man by heart and the World Citizen by his talent”.Chopin is particularly close not only to us, the students but also to all inhabitants of Gniewkowo in the Cuyavian region because his Polonez A-dur op. 40 nr1 is in Kuyaviak , our regional dance, style.

NICOLAS COPERNICUS –

stopped the Sun and moved the Earth

Copernicus house in Toruń

Copernicus monument in Toruń

Nicolas Copernicus was born in Toruń on 19th February 1473. He studied at the University of Crakow, Bologna and Padwa. He was a priest but also a mathematician, a doctor and an economist. He was interested in astronomy, astrology, maths, law, economics, medicine and military strategy.

He wrote the book in Latin ‘’De Revolutionibus Orbium Coelestium” in which he presents his idea of heliocentric theory. It says that the Sun is in the centre of the Solar System and the Earth goes round it.Besides this great book he also published his work on the monetary reform.

He died on 24th May 1543 in Frombork, Poland.

The tomb of Copernicus in Frombork Cathedral

The tomb of Nicolaus Copernicus has been looked for several times. The positive identification of his remains was possible only in 2008 thanks to DNA tests.

A poet, a playwright, a writer, a translator

JAN KASPROWICZ

His family house in Szymborze, near Inowrocław – a museum now.

Jan Kasprowicz was born on 12th December 1860, in a village near Inowrocław, in Cuyavian region.The theme of his poetry was the result of his hard life experiences of poverty and loneliness. His poetic work is appreciated for originality of style and independence.In his poems Kasprowicz admired the natural beauty of the Cuyavian region and also the beauty of the mountains where he spent time in his later life. Walking in the mountains, he was looking for the inspiration for his poems.

A part of his poetry was created under the influence of the far East culture and Greek mythology.The poet died in Harenda, near Zakopane in the Tatra Mountains on 1st August 1926.

The monument of Jan Kasprowicz in Inowrocław

JAN MATEJKO – a painter of Polish history

The Battle of Grunvald

Jan Matejko was born in 1838. He was the most famous historical painter. He learned to paint in Cracow, Poland and also in Munich and Viena. He travelled to many foreign places, for example to Paris, Viena, Turkey, Hungary, Italy. He was a very talented person and from his early age he copied pictures from historical books which he read with a big interest because he lived in the times when Poland was under the rules of the three invaders.

His works of art show that he was a great lover of his country, Poland. His paintings contain famous events from Polish history but the most famous and outstanding one is „The Battle of Grunvald” which was created from 1872-1878.

ŁUKASZ PAWŁOWSKI – a

sportsman

Łukasz Pawłowski was born in 1983 in Toruń.He has been training rowing since 1995.His achievements: - A dozen times champion of Poland.- A double World Champion under 23

( in 2003 and 2004).- A brown medallist of the World

Championships in 2006 and 2009.- A vice- Champion of Europe in 2010.- A vice – Champion of Olympics in

Beijing in 2008, where together with other three participants he won a silver medal in men’s lightweight coxless four.

The Olympian has visited our school, SP1 Gniewkowo.