Poland’s culture minister, Bogdan Zdrojewski, has upheld his decision not to allow DNA tests on the heart of Fryderyk Chopin to determine the exact cause of his death (photo: galeria - polskie radio).

A group of geneticists who hypothesise that Chopin could have died from a hereditary disease, cystic fibrosis - and not tuberculosis as has been previously supposed - asked for permission and funds to carry out the tests in April 2008. Last September the minister turned down the application.

The researchers continued their efforts, however, and kept lobbying to be allowed to examine his remains.

Chopin moved to Paris in 1831 and died in 1849 after a long illness. He was buried in the Père Lachaise Cemetery but his heart was brought to the Church of the Holy Cross in Warsaw, in line with his wishes.

Announcing his final decision, the minister cited the negative opinion of the composer’s living relatives as a reason for leaving the composer in peace. Zdrojewski said the cause of the exiled composer's death - with tongue firmly in cheek - as being from a broken heart: ‘He died from his love for his homeland’.

Professor Tadeusz Dobosz from the Medical Academy in Wroclaw argues that far more important than the studies into the causes of Chopin’s death is saving the composer’s heart, which is interred in a pillar in the Holy Cross Church in Warsaw. ‘For over fifty years nobody has examined the urn in which the heart is placed. If the heart is not preserved properly, it may fall into pieces or dry out’, the professor says.

DNA tests were cecently carried out on remains found in Torun, northern Poland, to ascertain whether or not they were of Poland‘s most famous astronomer, Copernicus. (mk/pg)