Morges at the heart of the world

« My heart will always remain with you, and I promise we shall never be parted by the oceans stretching between us, for you and my dear Switzerland will forever be present in my most affectionate, grateful and faithful thoughts. » Ignacy Paderewski spoke these words on 29^th September 1940; his speech was broadcast on Radio-Lausanne as he was about to definitively depart from Morges for the United States, after residing for forty-one years in Switzerland.

Ignacy Paderewski (1860-1941): Behind the Scenes

The shores of Lake Leman have housed the Paderewski Museum since 1991, and with good reason: the eminently talented pianist and Polish statesman spent more than half his fast-paced life in Morges. He left many indelible traces of his presence behind him: a beautiful property in the unique Riond-Bosson setting where the entire world used to visit him, incredible concerts from Geneva to Vevey and from Lausanne to Fribourg, a boundless energy radiating goodness around him – in particular for wounded Poland which he dearly wished to see regain its legitimate place as a nation –, not to mention the myriad anecdotes that, to this day, continue to shape his legend in the neighbourhood. Visit the museum to discover – or rediscover – who Ignacy Paderewski was through objects, documents, and sometimes unpublished ideas which recount the inside story within a wider picture, from the art of sounds to the art of living, from Switzerland to the rest of the world.