Ossolineum
Encyclopedia
The Ossolineum or Zakład Narodowy im. Ossolińskich (ZNiO, National Ossoliński
Institute) a meritorious department for Polish science and culture (until 1939 it combined a Library, Publishing House and the Lubomirski Museum), which was founded for the Polish Nation in 1817
by Józef Maksymilian Ossoliński
, and was opened in 1827 in Lviv
.
It was one of the most important Polish culture centres, since it had an extremely rich library collection, which was the second in the country when it comes to its size after the Jagiellonian Library. Incomes form the land estates of its founder, managed for life by its curators, became the livelihood of the Institute.
. After the first partition of Poland and the dissolution of many cloisters by Joseph II
, the Austrian emperor, the cloister building fell into ruin. The restoration of the building was the work of Józef Bem
. In 1823 the Museum Lubomirskich was attached to the Ossoliński Institute, which was established by prince Henryk Lubomirski.
Ossolineum in Galicia was under Austrian rule concentrating the Polish intellectual movement and was one of the most important centres of Polish culture in the annexation and Germanization. During that time there were many persecutions in the form of police searches and arrests of employees of the centre.
In accordance with the intention of its founder it became one of the most important research centres on history and Polish literature because it manages one of the biggest book collections in Poland as well as a large collection of manuscripts and autographs in which there are medieval manuscripts and oldest prints.
Smaller archives and book collections are also in Ossolineum: Jabłonowski, Poniński, Pawlikowski, Skarbek, Balzer
, Sapieha, Lubomirski, Mniszek.
The library has national character i.e. the Polish department is the biggest and it attempts to complete the whole Polish scientific and literary oeuvre. Ossolineum is the owner of manuscripts of the foremost Polish writers and poets: Mickiewicz
, Ansyk
, Sienkiewicz, Kasprowicz
, Reymont, Żeromski
, and above all Słowacki.
Before the Second World War the Ossolineum library consisted of 220,000 works, over 6,000 manuscripts, over 9,000 autographs, over 2,000 diplomas and over 3,000 maps (the collection of J.M.Ossoliński from the year 1827 included 10,121 works, 19,055 volumes, duplicates, 567 manuscripts in 715 volumes, 133 maps, 1,445 figures).
Ossolineum had also the biggest in Poland, complete collection of Polish press from 19th and 20th centuries.
In his last testament, the founder, Józef Maksymilian Ossoliński
named members of Ossoliński family to hold the post of economic curatorship and in striving to maintain the continuity of the Institute mentioned 28 notable Polish families among whom a successor could be chosen in case if his own family died out.
in September 1939, the Ossolineum was closed down and its library holdings were absorbed by the Lviv Branch of the Academy of Sciences of the Ukrainian SSR
. The Lubomirski Museum's collection was distributed among various Lviv museums managed by the Ukrainians. During the German occupation of Lviv (from 29 June 1941 to 27 July 1944), the Ossolineum library was incorporated into the structure of the German Staatsbibilothek Lemberg. After another seizure of Lviv by the Soviet army, from August 1944 this library functioned as a so-called Polish Sector of Lviv Sciences Institute's library.
At the beginning of 1944 the German government decided to move not only the collection of Lviv’s library, but also university and polytechnic library and Shevchenko Scientific Society
.
According to German orders two transports, which were prepared by professor Mieczysław Gębarowicz, who was managing Ossolineum during the war, were supposed to include only German specialized literature and a reference book collection of the main reading room. However, it also consisted of the most valuable and carefully selected special collections and Ossolineum’s cimelias. Together there were 2,300 manuscripts, cir. 2,200 documents (diplomas), cir. 1,700 old prints, cir. 2,400 figures and drawings from an old collection of Lubomirsky’s Museum, the Pawlikowski collection and hundreds of old coins
. Moreover, it also included cir. 170 of the most valuable manuscripts of another Polish foundation library the Baworowscy Library
, and the most valuable manuscripts and incunabulums of the University Library in Lviv. Among the evacuated literature of 19th and 20th century there were the autographs of Pan Tadeusz
of Adam Mickiewicz
, the whole legacy of Juliusz Słowacki's manuscripts (with autographs of Mazepa, Lilla Weneda, Król-Duch) and Aleksander Fredro
(with autographs of Pan Jowialski, Śluby panieńskie, Zemsta
and Dożywocie) and then autographs of works of Seweryn Goszczyński
, Teofil Lenartowicz, Józef Conrad
, Henryk Sienkiewicz
(with autographs of The Deluge), Józef Ignacy Kraszewski
, Jan Kasprowicz
, Władysław Reymont (together with the autograph of Chłopi), Stefan Żeromski
.
Furthermore, the manuscript legacy of Lviv’s scholars was moved: Wojciech Kętrzyński
, Ludwik Bernacki, Balzer
, Karol Szajnoch
and the archive of the Galician activist peasant movement of Bolesław and Maria Wysłouch. When it comes to documents, the oldest and most valuable copies were selected, starting from the documents of Pope Gregory IX
from 1227 and the Silesian prince Henry I the Bearded
from 1229.
The Ossolinem collection reached Cracow
within March and April of 1944, where they were supposed to survive the military actions in a cellar of the Jagiellonian Library
. Unexpectedly in the summer of 1944, this collection was transferred by the Germans further West and stored in Adelin (Zgrodno
) near Złotoryja in Lower Silesia
in the summer of 1944. Fortunately, they survived the whole war and in 1947 were incorporated into the collection of the reactivated Ossolineum Library in Wrocław.
In 1946–1947 Ukrainians
divided the collection of Lviv’s Ossolineum. They followed the general rule that all materials referred to or with origins in lands east of the Curzon line
, especially those connected with (in the Ukrainian commission's opinion) the history and culture of West Ukraine, and those whatsoever connected with Russia
, Belarus
, Podolia
, Volhynia (Wołyń), Lithuania
, Turkey
where were to remain in Lviv. This rule applied to even those materials, in which there was only a single mention about West Ukraine.
There was a case where a great scroll of papers containing Greater Poland
and Silesia
n materials could not be returned to Poland, because it had one page about Zhovkva (Żółkiew)
. The same happened to foreign materials that in the Ukrainian commission's opinion, where not connected with Poland.
Originally the Ukrainians planned to hand over only 30,000 volumes from The Ossolineum Library. The number of books was increased several times and in May 1946 it finally reached 150,000 old prints, prints from 19th and 20th century and manuscripts. This constituted only 15–20% of the entire collection because graphical and cartographic collections, and almost the entire collection of Polish periodicals from the 19th-20th century were not taken into consideration.
Polish staff was only assigned to technical works, whereas Ukrainias were responsible for decisions, control and management. Offices where materials were packed were closed and Polish staff didn not have access to it. The whole work was conducted in a great hurry.
While dividing the collection, quite unique criteria were applied. Among those questioned, were King's Stanisław August Poniatowski abdication
act, because it was signed in Hrodna (Grodno)
, Leszczyński
materials of John Amos Comenius as a bohemian, all materials about dissidents
, materials about the Bar Confederation
, and diplomatic correspondence concerning Partitions of Poland
.
In Lviv stayed priceless collection of Polish press, which was unprotected and “temporarily” stored for 50 years in Church of Society of Jesus
, which was dedicated to the Saint Peter and Paul.
W. Stefanyk Lviv's National Scientific Ukraine Library replaced National Ossoliński Institute.
Since 1947 Ossolineum Library in Wrocław is being reactivated on the basis of the collection from Lviv’s Ossolineum, which Poland recovered from authorities of the Soviet Union
. After nationalization
of landed estates in 1945 the source of money for the Library's maintenance in new historical conditions became the Budget
. Since 1953, which was the moment of establishing Polish Academy of Sciences
, Ossolineum library and publishing house became members of Academy institutions as a two separate institutions, whereas the Lubomirscy Muzeum was closed down.
In accordance with the act form January 5 1995 National Ossoliński Institute obtained the status of foundation subsidized
from the Budget, at the same time Ossolineum stopped being an institute subordinate to Polish Academy of Sciences. Relations between Ossolineum and Stefanyk Library were established in the early 90s, but for a long time both parties offered proposals that excluded each other. In 1997 Poland put forward a proposal for return all Ossolineum collections from Lviv. In 2003 Ossolineum gained the option of full access to Polish collection stored in Stefanyk Library with possibility of copying (scanning and microfilming) and working out analysis by Polish specialists. In Wroclaw, there was agreement about mutually copying (scanning) Polish collection in Lviv and Ukrainian materials signed.
In 2006 in Lviv branch of Wrocław National Ossoliński Institute was open. It is situated in renovated with Polish help edifice of previous Baworowscy Library
. It consists of exhibition hall and office for Ossolineum employee, who takes part in copying collection, preparing catalogue, signalling condition of collection and maintenance needs.
Ossolinski
Ossoliński is the surname of a Polish szlachta family. Because Polish adjectives have different forms for the genders, Ossolińska is the form for a female family member-History:...
Institute) a meritorious department for Polish science and culture (until 1939 it combined a Library, Publishing House and the Lubomirski Museum), which was founded for the Polish Nation in 1817
187
Year 187 was a common year starting on Sunday of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Quintius and Aelianus...
by Józef Maksymilian Ossoliński
Józef Maksymilian Ossolinski
Count Józef Maksymilian Ossoliński was a Polish noble , politician, writer, researcher of literature, and founder of the Ossoliński Institute....
, and was opened in 1827 in Lviv
Lviv
Lviv is a city in western Ukraine. The city is regarded as one of the main cultural centres of today's Ukraine and historically has also been a major Polish and Jewish cultural center, as Poles and Jews were the two main ethnicities of the city until the outbreak of World War II and the following...
.
It was one of the most important Polish culture centres, since it had an extremely rich library collection, which was the second in the country when it comes to its size after the Jagiellonian Library. Incomes form the land estates of its founder, managed for life by its curators, became the livelihood of the Institute.
Creation and development
Since the foundation of the department and up to 1945, the National Ossoliński Institute was located in a former cloister and in the Church of the Calced Carmelite Nuns on 2 Ossolińscy Street in LvivLviv
Lviv is a city in western Ukraine. The city is regarded as one of the main cultural centres of today's Ukraine and historically has also been a major Polish and Jewish cultural center, as Poles and Jews were the two main ethnicities of the city until the outbreak of World War II and the following...
. After the first partition of Poland and the dissolution of many cloisters by Joseph II
Joseph II
Joseph II may refer to:*Joseph II *Joseph II, Holy Roman Emperor Austria*Patriarch Joseph II of Constantinople *Pope Joseph II of Alexandria...
, the Austrian emperor, the cloister building fell into ruin. The restoration of the building was the work of Józef Bem
Józef Bem
Józef Zachariasz Bem was a Polish general, an Ottoman Pasha and a national hero of Poland and Hungary, and a figure intertwined with other European nationalisms...
. In 1823 the Museum Lubomirskich was attached to the Ossoliński Institute, which was established by prince Henryk Lubomirski.
Ossolineum in Galicia was under Austrian rule concentrating the Polish intellectual movement and was one of the most important centres of Polish culture in the annexation and Germanization. During that time there were many persecutions in the form of police searches and arrests of employees of the centre.
In accordance with the intention of its founder it became one of the most important research centres on history and Polish literature because it manages one of the biggest book collections in Poland as well as a large collection of manuscripts and autographs in which there are medieval manuscripts and oldest prints.
Smaller archives and book collections are also in Ossolineum: Jabłonowski, Poniński, Pawlikowski, Skarbek, Balzer
Oswald Balzer
Oswald Marian Balzer was an Austro-Polish historian of law and statehood, one of the most renowned Polish historians of his times....
, Sapieha, Lubomirski, Mniszek.
The library has national character i.e. the Polish department is the biggest and it attempts to complete the whole Polish scientific and literary oeuvre. Ossolineum is the owner of manuscripts of the foremost Polish writers and poets: Mickiewicz
Adam Mickiewicz
Adam Bernard Mickiewicz ) was a Polish poet, publisher and political writer of the Romantic period. One of the primary representatives of the Polish Romanticism era, a national poet of Poland, he is seen as one of Poland's Three Bards and the greatest poet in all of Polish literature...
, Ansyk
Adam Asnyk
Adam Asnyk , was a Polish poet and dramatist. Born September 11, 1838 in Kalisz to a szlachta family, he was educated for an heir of his family's estate. As such he received education at the Institute of Agriculture and Forestry in Marymont and then the Medical Surgeon School in Warsaw. He...
, Sienkiewicz, Kasprowicz
Jan Kasprowicz
Jan Kasprowicz was a poet, playwright, critic and translator; a foremost representative of Young Poland.-Life:...
, Reymont, Żeromski
Stefan Zeromski
Stefan Żeromski was a Polish novelist and dramatist. He was called the "conscience of Polish literature". He also wrote under the pen names: Maurycy Zych, Józef Katerla and Stefan Iksmoreż.- Life :...
, and above all Słowacki.
Before the Second World War the Ossolineum library consisted of 220,000 works, over 6,000 manuscripts, over 9,000 autographs, over 2,000 diplomas and over 3,000 maps (the collection of J.M.Ossoliński from the year 1827 included 10,121 works, 19,055 volumes, duplicates, 567 manuscripts in 715 volumes, 133 maps, 1,445 figures).
Ossolineum had also the biggest in Poland, complete collection of Polish press from 19th and 20th centuries.
In his last testament, the founder, Józef Maksymilian Ossoliński
Józef Maksymilian Ossolinski
Count Józef Maksymilian Ossoliński was a Polish noble , politician, writer, researcher of literature, and founder of the Ossoliński Institute....
named members of Ossoliński family to hold the post of economic curatorship and in striving to maintain the continuity of the Institute mentioned 28 notable Polish families among whom a successor could be chosen in case if his own family died out.
Occupation
After the seizure of Lviv by the Soviet UnionSoviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
in September 1939, the Ossolineum was closed down and its library holdings were absorbed by the Lviv Branch of the Academy of Sciences of the Ukrainian SSR
Ukrainian SSR
The Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic or in short, the Ukrainian SSR was a sovereign Soviet Socialist state and one of the fifteen constituent republics of the Soviet Union lasting from its inception in 1922 to the breakup in 1991...
. The Lubomirski Museum's collection was distributed among various Lviv museums managed by the Ukrainians. During the German occupation of Lviv (from 29 June 1941 to 27 July 1944), the Ossolineum library was incorporated into the structure of the German Staatsbibilothek Lemberg. After another seizure of Lviv by the Soviet army, from August 1944 this library functioned as a so-called Polish Sector of Lviv Sciences Institute's library.
At the beginning of 1944 the German government decided to move not only the collection of Lviv’s library, but also university and polytechnic library and Shevchenko Scientific Society
Shevchenko Scientific Society
The Shevchenko Scientific Society is a Ukrainian scientific society devoted to the promotion of scholarly research and publication. Unlike the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine the society is a public organization that was reestablished in Ukraine in 1989 after almost 50 years of exile...
.
According to German orders two transports, which were prepared by professor Mieczysław Gębarowicz, who was managing Ossolineum during the war, were supposed to include only German specialized literature and a reference book collection of the main reading room. However, it also consisted of the most valuable and carefully selected special collections and Ossolineum’s cimelias. Together there were 2,300 manuscripts, cir. 2,200 documents (diplomas), cir. 1,700 old prints, cir. 2,400 figures and drawings from an old collection of Lubomirsky’s Museum, the Pawlikowski collection and hundreds of old coins
Numismatics
Numismatics is the study or collection of currency, including coins, tokens, paper money, and related objects. While numismatists are often characterized as students or collectors of coins, the discipline also includes the broader study of money and other payment media used to resolve debts and the...
. Moreover, it also included cir. 170 of the most valuable manuscripts of another Polish foundation library the Baworowscy Library
Baworowscy Library
The Baworowscy Library was one of major Polish libraries, with thousands of books and historical documents...
, and the most valuable manuscripts and incunabulums of the University Library in Lviv. Among the evacuated literature of 19th and 20th century there were the autographs of Pan Tadeusz
Pan Tadeusz
Pan Tadeusz, the full title in English: Sir Thaddeus, or the Last Lithuanian Foray: A Nobleman's Tale from the Years of 1811 and 1812 in Twelve Books of Verse is an epic poem by the Polish poet, writer and philosopher Adam Mickiewicz...
of Adam Mickiewicz
Adam Mickiewicz
Adam Bernard Mickiewicz ) was a Polish poet, publisher and political writer of the Romantic period. One of the primary representatives of the Polish Romanticism era, a national poet of Poland, he is seen as one of Poland's Three Bards and the greatest poet in all of Polish literature...
, the whole legacy of Juliusz Słowacki's manuscripts (with autographs of Mazepa, Lilla Weneda, Król-Duch) and Aleksander Fredro
Aleksander Fredro
Aleksander Fredro was a Polish poet, playwright and author.-Life:Count Aleksander Fredro, of the Bończa coat of arms, was born in the village of Surochów near Jarosław, then a crown territory of Austria. A landowner's son, he was educated at home. He entered the Polish army at age 16 and saw...
(with autographs of Pan Jowialski, Śluby panieńskie, Zemsta
Zemsta
Zemsta is a Polish comedy by Aleksander Fredro.-The Play:Real events inspired Fredro to write the play. In November of 1828, Fredro married Zofia Skotnicka, whose dowry included the title to half of a castle located in Odrzykon in the province of Galicia...
and Dożywocie) and then autographs of works of Seweryn Goszczyński
Seweryn Goszczynski
Seweryn Goszczyński was a Polish Romantic prose writer and poet.Goszczyński did not receive a thorough education because his parents were not well off. He studied with breaks in different schools, the Basilian School in Humań being the one where he stayed the longest period of time. At this school...
, Teofil Lenartowicz, Józef Conrad
Joseph Conrad
Joseph Conrad was a Polish-born English novelist.Conrad is regarded as one of the great novelists in English, although he did not speak the language fluently until he was in his twenties...
, Henryk Sienkiewicz
Henryk Sienkiewicz
Henryk Adam Aleksander Pius Sienkiewicz was a Polish journalist and Nobel Prize-winning novelist. A Polish szlachcic of the Oszyk coat of arms, he was one of the most popular Polish writers at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries, and received the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1905 for his...
(with autographs of The Deluge), Józef Ignacy Kraszewski
Józef Ignacy Kraszewski
Józef Ignacy Kraszewski was a Polish writer, historian and journalist who produced more than 200 novels and 150 novellas, short stories, and art reviews He is best known for his epic series on the history of Poland, comprising twenty-nine novels in seventy-nine parts.As a novelist writing about...
, Jan Kasprowicz
Jan Kasprowicz
Jan Kasprowicz was a poet, playwright, critic and translator; a foremost representative of Young Poland.-Life:...
, Władysław Reymont (together with the autograph of Chłopi), Stefan Żeromski
Stefan Zeromski
Stefan Żeromski was a Polish novelist and dramatist. He was called the "conscience of Polish literature". He also wrote under the pen names: Maurycy Zych, Józef Katerla and Stefan Iksmoreż.- Life :...
.
Furthermore, the manuscript legacy of Lviv’s scholars was moved: Wojciech Kętrzyński
Wojciech Ketrzynski
thumb|Kętrzyński-Monument in [[Kętrzyn]].Wojciech Kętrzyński , born Adalbert von Winkler, was a historian and the director of the Ossolineum Library in Lwów, Austrian partition of Poland. He focused on Polish history in a time when no independent Polish state existed...
, Ludwik Bernacki, Balzer
Oswald Balzer
Oswald Marian Balzer was an Austro-Polish historian of law and statehood, one of the most renowned Polish historians of his times....
, Karol Szajnoch
Karol Szajnocha
Karol Szajnocha was a Polish writer, historian, and independence activist. Self-taught, he would nonetheless become a notable Polish historian of the partitions period.-Biography:...
and the archive of the Galician activist peasant movement of Bolesław and Maria Wysłouch. When it comes to documents, the oldest and most valuable copies were selected, starting from the documents of Pope Gregory IX
Pope Gregory IX
Pope Gregory IX, born Ugolino di Conti, was pope from March 19, 1227 to August 22, 1241.The successor of Pope Honorius III , he fully inherited the traditions of Pope Gregory VII and of his uncle Pope Innocent III , and zealously continued their policy of Papal supremacy.-Early life:Ugolino was...
from 1227 and the Silesian prince Henry I the Bearded
Henry I the Bearded
Henry I the Bearded , of the Silesian line of the Piast dynasty, was Duke of Silesia at Wrocław from 1201 and Duke of Kraków and thus High Duke of all Poland - internally divided - from 1232 until his death.-Heir of Wroclaw:...
from 1229.
The Ossolinem collection reached Cracow
Kraków
Kraków also Krakow, or Cracow , is the second largest and one of the oldest cities in Poland. Situated on the Vistula River in the Lesser Poland region, the city dates back to the 7th century. Kraków has traditionally been one of the leading centres of Polish academic, cultural, and artistic life...
within March and April of 1944, where they were supposed to survive the military actions in a cellar of the Jagiellonian Library
Jagiellonian Library
Jagiellonian Library is the library of the Jagiellonian University in Kraków and with almost 6.7 million volumes, one of the biggest libraries in Poland, serving as a public library, university library and part of the Polish national library system...
. Unexpectedly in the summer of 1944, this collection was transferred by the Germans further West and stored in Adelin (Zgrodno
Zagrodno
Zagrodno is a village in Złotoryja County, Lower Silesian Voivodeship, in south-western Poland. It is the seat of the administrative district called Gmina Zagrodno. Prior to 1945 it was in Germany....
) near Złotoryja in Lower Silesia
Lower Silesia
Lower Silesia ; is the northwestern part of the historical and geographical region of Silesia; Upper Silesia is to the southeast.Throughout its history Lower Silesia has been under the control of the medieval Kingdom of Poland, the Kingdom of Bohemia and the Austrian Habsburg Monarchy from 1526...
in the summer of 1944. Fortunately, they survived the whole war and in 1947 were incorporated into the collection of the reactivated Ossolineum Library in Wrocław.
Post-war period
Part of the library holdings and archival materials were transported in the years 1946–1947 from Lviv to Wrocław as a "gift of the Ukrainian people to the Polish nation". They arrived by means of two train shipments in sealed carriages to the city, which was still in ruins at the time, and were opened to readers in September 1947.Division
In 1946–1947 Ukrainians
Ukrainians
Ukrainians are an East Slavic ethnic group native to Ukraine, which is the sixth-largest nation in Europe. The Constitution of Ukraine applies the term 'Ukrainians' to all its citizens...
divided the collection of Lviv’s Ossolineum. They followed the general rule that all materials referred to or with origins in lands east of the Curzon line
Curzon Line
The Curzon Line was put forward by the Allied Supreme Council after World War I as a demarcation line between the Second Polish Republic and Bolshevik Russia and was supposed to serve as the basis for a future border. In the wake of World War I, which catalysed the Russian Revolution of 1917, the...
, especially those connected with (in the Ukrainian commission's opinion) the history and culture of West Ukraine, and those whatsoever connected with Russia
Russia
Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
, Belarus
Belarus
Belarus , officially the Republic of Belarus, is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe, bordered clockwise by Russia to the northeast, Ukraine to the south, Poland to the west, and Lithuania and Latvia to the northwest. Its capital is Minsk; other major cities include Brest, Grodno , Gomel ,...
, Podolia
Podolia
The region of Podolia is an historical region in the west-central and south-west portions of present-day Ukraine, corresponding to Khmelnytskyi Oblast and Vinnytsia Oblast. Northern Transnistria, in Moldova, is also a part of Podolia...
, Volhynia (Wołyń), Lithuania
Lithuania
Lithuania , officially the Republic of Lithuania is a country in Northern Europe, the biggest of the three Baltic states. It is situated along the southeastern shore of the Baltic Sea, whereby to the west lie Sweden and Denmark...
, Turkey
Turkey
Turkey , known officially as the Republic of Turkey , is a Eurasian country located in Western Asia and in East Thrace in Southeastern Europe...
where were to remain in Lviv. This rule applied to even those materials, in which there was only a single mention about West Ukraine.
There was a case where a great scroll of papers containing Greater Poland
Greater Poland
Greater Poland or Great Poland, often known by its Polish name Wielkopolska is a historical region of west-central Poland. Its chief city is Poznań.The boundaries of Greater Poland have varied somewhat throughout history...
and Silesia
Silesia
Silesia is a historical region of Central Europe located mostly in Poland, with smaller parts also in the Czech Republic, and Germany.Silesia is rich in mineral and natural resources, and includes several important industrial areas. Silesia's largest city and historical capital is Wrocław...
n materials could not be returned to Poland, because it had one page about Zhovkva (Żółkiew)
Zhovkva
Zhovkva is a city in the Lviv Oblast of western Ukraine, north of Lviv. It is the administrative center of the Zhovkivskyi Raion . The current estimated population is 13,500.-History:...
. The same happened to foreign materials that in the Ukrainian commission's opinion, where not connected with Poland.
Originally the Ukrainians planned to hand over only 30,000 volumes from The Ossolineum Library. The number of books was increased several times and in May 1946 it finally reached 150,000 old prints, prints from 19th and 20th century and manuscripts. This constituted only 15–20% of the entire collection because graphical and cartographic collections, and almost the entire collection of Polish periodicals from the 19th-20th century were not taken into consideration.
Polish staff was only assigned to technical works, whereas Ukrainias were responsible for decisions, control and management. Offices where materials were packed were closed and Polish staff didn not have access to it. The whole work was conducted in a great hurry.
While dividing the collection, quite unique criteria were applied. Among those questioned, were King's Stanisław August Poniatowski abdication
Abdication
Abdication occurs when a monarch, such as a king or emperor, renounces his office.-Terminology:The word abdication comes derives from the Latin abdicatio. meaning to disown or renounce...
act, because it was signed in Hrodna (Grodno)
Hrodna
Grodno or Hrodna , is a city in Belarus. It is located on the Neman River , close to the borders of Poland and Lithuania . It has 327,540 inhabitants...
, Leszczyński
Leszno
Leszno is a town in central Poland with 63,955 inhabitants . Situated in the southern part of the Greater Poland Voivodeship since 1999, it was previously the capital of the Leszno Voivodeship . The town has county status.-History:...
materials of John Amos Comenius as a bohemian, all materials about dissidents
Dissident
A dissident, broadly defined, is a person who actively challenges an established doctrine, policy, or institution. When dissidents unite for a common cause they often effect a dissident movement....
, materials about the Bar Confederation
Bar Confederation
The Bar Confederation was an association of Polish nobles formed at the fortress of Bar in Podolia in 1768 to defend the internal and external independence of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth against Russian influence and against King Stanisław August Poniatowski and Polish reformers who were...
, and diplomatic correspondence concerning Partitions of Poland
Partitions of Poland
The Partitions of Poland or Partitions of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth took place in the second half of the 18th century and ended the existence of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, resulting in the elimination of sovereign Poland for 123 years...
.
Lviv
In Lviv stayed priceless collection of Polish press, which was unprotected and “temporarily” stored for 50 years in Church of Society of Jesus
Society of Jesus
The Society of Jesus is a Catholic male religious order that follows the teachings of the Catholic Church. The members are called Jesuits, and are also known colloquially as "God's Army" and as "The Company," these being references to founder Ignatius of Loyola's military background and a...
, which was dedicated to the Saint Peter and Paul.
W. Stefanyk Lviv's National Scientific Ukraine Library replaced National Ossoliński Institute.
Wrocław
Since 1947 Ossolineum Library in Wrocław is being reactivated on the basis of the collection from Lviv’s Ossolineum, which Poland recovered from authorities of the Soviet Union
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
. After nationalization
Nationalization
Nationalisation, also spelled nationalization, is the process of taking an industry or assets into government ownership by a national government or state. Nationalization usually refers to private assets, but may also mean assets owned by lower levels of government, such as municipalities, being...
of landed estates in 1945 the source of money for the Library's maintenance in new historical conditions became the Budget
Government budget
A government budget is a legal document that is often passed by the legislature, and approved by the chief executive-or president. For example, only certain types of revenue may be imposed and collected...
. Since 1953, which was the moment of establishing Polish Academy of Sciences
Polish Academy of Sciences
The Polish Academy of Sciences, headquartered in Warsaw, is one of two Polish institutions having the nature of an academy of sciences.-History:...
, Ossolineum library and publishing house became members of Academy institutions as a two separate institutions, whereas the Lubomirscy Muzeum was closed down.
Present history
In accordance with the act form January 5 1995 National Ossoliński Institute obtained the status of foundation subsidized
Donation
A donation is a gift given by physical or legal persons, typically for charitable purposes and/or to benefit a cause. A donation may take various forms, including cash, services, new or used goods including clothing, toys, food, and vehicles...
from the Budget, at the same time Ossolineum stopped being an institute subordinate to Polish Academy of Sciences. Relations between Ossolineum and Stefanyk Library were established in the early 90s, but for a long time both parties offered proposals that excluded each other. In 1997 Poland put forward a proposal for return all Ossolineum collections from Lviv. In 2003 Ossolineum gained the option of full access to Polish collection stored in Stefanyk Library with possibility of copying (scanning and microfilming) and working out analysis by Polish specialists. In Wroclaw, there was agreement about mutually copying (scanning) Polish collection in Lviv and Ukrainian materials signed.
In 2006 in Lviv branch of Wrocław National Ossoliński Institute was open. It is situated in renovated with Polish help edifice of previous Baworowscy Library
Baworowscy Library
The Baworowscy Library was one of major Polish libraries, with thousands of books and historical documents...
. It consists of exhibition hall and office for Ossolineum employee, who takes part in copying collection, preparing catalogue, signalling condition of collection and maintenance needs.
Literary curators
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- Jan Wincenty hr. Bąkowski 1818–1826
- Henryk ks. Lubomirski 1827–1850
- Maurycy hr. Dzieduszycki 1851–1869
- Jerzy ks. Lubomirski 1869–1872
- Kazimierz hr. Krasicki 1872–1882
- Andrzej ks. Lubomirski 1882
Assistant curators
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- Mikołaj Michalewicz 1826–1827
- Father Franciszek SiarczyńskiFranciszek SiarczynskiFranciszek Siarczyński - Polish Roman Catholic Priest, member of the Piarist religious order, historian, geographer, teacher, writer and publicist....
1827–1829 - Tadeusz Wasilewski 1829
- Ksawery hr. Wiesiołowski 1829–1832
- Konstanty Słotwiński 1832–1833
- Ignacy hr. Krasicki 1833–1834
- Gwalbert Pawlikowski 1834–1847
- Jerzy ks. Lubomirski 1847–1851
- Antoni Małecki 1869–1872 i 1882–1913
- Ignacy Dembowski 1923
Managers
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- Ks. Franciszek SiarczyńskiFranciszek SiarczynskiFranciszek Siarczyński - Polish Roman Catholic Priest, member of the Piarist religious order, historian, geographer, teacher, writer and publicist....
1827–1829 - Konstanty Słotwiński 1831–1834 (1837)
- Antoni Kłodziński 1839–1849,
- August Bielowski 1850–1876
- Wojciech KętrzyńskiWojciech Ketrzynskithumb|Kętrzyński-Monument in [[Kętrzyn]].Wojciech Kętrzyński , born Adalbert von Winkler, was a historian and the director of the Ossolineum Library in Lwów, Austrian partition of Poland. He focused on Polish history in a time when no independent Polish state existed...
1876–1918, - Witold Bełza 1916–1920
- Adam Fischer 1916–1920
- Jerzy Koller 1916–1920
- Władysław Tadeusz Wisłocki 1916–1920
- Antoni Lewak 1918–1939
- Ks. Franciszek Siarczyński