Heart of Frédéric Chopin

The heart of Frédéric Chopin is preserved in a pillar of Holy Cross Church in Warsaw. After Chopin died in Paris on 17 October 1849 at the age of 39, his heart was removed during an autopsy performed by the physician Jean Cruveilhier. While his body was buried at Père Lachaise Cemetery, the heart was preserved in alcohol (probably cognac) and later taken to Poland by his sister Ludwika Jędrzejewicz in accordance with his wishes.

The heart was placed in the Holy Cross Church and immured in a pillar in 1879. During the Warsaw Uprising it was removed by German authorities but returned after the war. It has been the subject of scientific interest concerning Chopin’s cause of death, traditionally attributed to tuberculosis; a visual inspection in 2014 supported this diagnosis.

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