Poland is celebrating the 200th birthday of the country's pride, composer Frederic Chopin. Festivities include a week-long marathon of recitals of his music, a commemorative bank note, and a new state-of-the-art museum.

Polish composer Fryderyk Chopin's monument is displayed in the gardens of a museum in Zelazowa Wola, near Warsaw, March 1, 2010.

Internationally famed pianists including China's Lang Lang, are playing to packed concert halls. On Monday, a refurbished, multi-media museum devoted to Chopin's life, opened its doors.

In addition, a new concert hall has opened on the renovated estate where Chopin was born to a Polish mother and French father 200 years ago.

Chopin left Poland at the age of 20 and spent most of his adult life in Paris. But he remained a staunch patriot and his work is infused with nostalgia for his homeland.