Polish Museum, Rapperswil
Encyclopedia
Rapperswil
Rapperswil-Jona is a municipality in the Wahlkreis of See-Gaster in the canton of St. Gallen in Switzerland.Besides Rapperswil and Jona, which were separate municipalities until 2006, the municipality includes Bollingen, Busskirch, Curtiberg, Kempraten-Lenggis, Wagen, and Wurmsbach.-Today:On...
, Switzerland
Switzerland
Switzerland name of one of the Swiss cantons. ; ; ; or ), in its full name the Swiss Confederation , is a federal republic consisting of 26 cantons, with Bern as the seat of the federal authorities. The country is situated in Western Europe,Or Central Europe depending on the definition....
, on October 23, 1870, by Polish
Poland
Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...
Count Władysław Broel-Plater, at the urging of Agaton Giller
Agaton Giller
Agaton Giller was a Polish historian, journalist and politician. He and his brother Stefan Giller played notable roles in the Polish independence movement and in the January 1863 Uprising.-Life:During the January 1863 Uprising, Agaton Giller was a member of the National Government...
, as "a refuge for [Poland's] historic memorabilia dishonored and plundered in the [occupied Polish] homeland" and for the promotion of Polish interests.
Except for two hiatuses (1927–36, 1952–75), the Museum has existed to the present day—an outpost of Polish culture in Switzerland
Switzerland
Switzerland name of one of the Swiss cantons. ; ; ; or ), in its full name the Swiss Confederation , is a federal republic consisting of 26 cantons, with Bern as the seat of the federal authorities. The country is situated in Western Europe,Or Central Europe depending on the definition....
, the country which, over the past two centuries, has given refuge to generations of Poland's sons and daughters bereft of their own country.
Founding
The Polish Museum is housed in the Rapperswil CastleRapperswil Castle
Rapperswil Castle is a castle in the city of Rapperswil. It is located on the eastern shore of the Lake Zurich and belongs to the municipality of Rapperswil-Jona in the canton of St. Gallen, Switzerland...
, atop that town's Herrenberg. Erected in the 12th century by Count Rudolf of Rapperswil, the castle passed, together with the town, into the hands of the Habsburg
Habsburg
The House of Habsburg , also found as Hapsburg, and also known as House of Austria is one of the most important royal houses of Europe and is best known for being an origin of all of the formally elected Holy Roman Emperors between 1438 and 1740, as well as rulers of the Austrian Empire and...
s. Rapperswil became a free city
Free city
Free city may refer to:* City-state, region controlled exclusively by a sovereign city* Free city a self-governed city during the Hellenistic and Roman Imperial eras* Free City , album by the St...
(Freie Reichsstadt) in 1415, and eventually joined the Swiss Confederation. Over the course of time, the castle fell into disrepair.
In the second half of the 19th century, the castle was leased for 99 years from the local authorities by a post-November 1830 Uprising
November Uprising
The November Uprising , Polish–Russian War 1830–31 also known as the Cadet Revolution, was an armed rebellion in the heartland of partitioned Poland against the Russian Empire. The uprising began on 29 November 1830 in Warsaw when the young Polish officers from the local Army of the Congress...
Polish émigré, Count Władysław Broel-Plater (a relative of Emilia Plater
Emilia Plater
Countess Emilia Plater was a Polish-Lithuanian noblewoman and revolutionary from the lands of the partitioned Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth...
, a heroine of the same 1830 Uprising), who had been in Switzerland since 1844. At his own expense he restored the castle, and on October 23, 1870, opened there the Polish National Museum.
Żeromski and Prus
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 :...
, who had obtained the post thanks in part to a letter of recommendation from novelist Bolesław Prus. Prus had also stood as witness at Żeromski's 1892 wedding to Oktawia Rodkiewicz.
The Żeromskis and Oktawia's daughter by a previous marriage, Henryka ("Henia"), lived in Rapperswil, in the garret of a three-story house at Bahnhofstrasse 28, owned by a Frau Fäh. When Prus visited them for two months in July–August 1895, Oktawia Żeromska rented a room for him on the building's second floor. Thus, for a time, two of Poland's greatest novelists lived at this one address in Rapperswil, Switzerland.
On July 2, 1895, Prus wrote his wife, describing his first impression of the town:
"Rapperswil is a village, but built of brick like our cities, and has at nearly every house a little garden, like our [Warsaw] Botanical [Garden] in terms of the plants. Everything here is bathed in roses..."
Prus admired the honesty, industry and kindliness of the populace.
Standing just before the entrance to the castle is the Bar
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...
Column, designed by Zurich University Professor Julian Stadler. It had been erected by Count Plater, largely at his own expense, in 1868 (two years before the museum's opening) on the 100th anniversary of the founding of 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...
, to commemorate Poland's then-century-long struggle for independence. The column had originally been placed at the shore of Lake Zurich
Lake Zurich
Lake Zurich is a lake in Switzerland, extending southeast of the city of Zurich. It is also known as Lake Zürich and Lake of Zürich. It lies approximately at co-ordinates ....
but Tsarist Russian protests had led to its move up to the castle, where it would not be visible from the town. The column is topped by an eagle, while the base bears, among other things, the Latin
Latin
Latin is an Italic language originally spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. It, along with most European languages, is a descendant of the ancient Proto-Indo-European language. Although it is considered a dead language, a number of scholars and members of the Christian clergy speak it fluently, and...
inscription, "Magna res libertas" ("A great thing is liberty") and the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth
Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth
The Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth was a dualistic state of Poland and Lithuania ruled by a common monarch. It was the largest and one of the most populous countries of 16th- and 17th‑century Europe with some and a multi-ethnic population of 11 million at its peak in the early 17th century...
coat-of-arms featuring the Polish Eagle and the Lithuanian Vytis (in Polish, Pogoń).
Librarian Stefan Żeromski clashed with the Museum's curator
Curator
A curator is a manager or overseer. Traditionally, a curator or keeper of a cultural heritage institution is a content specialist responsible for an institution's collections and involved with the interpretation of heritage material...
at the time, Rużycki de Rozenwerth, a loner and eccentric
Eccentricity (behavior)
In popular usage, eccentricity refers to unusual or odd behavior on the part of an individual. This behavior would typically be perceived as unusual or unnecessary, without being demonstrably maladaptive...
whom the novelist would immortalize in his novel Homeless People as the administrator of Cisy (The Yews), Krzywosąd.
Month after month, Żeromski had moved printed matter from storage onto the newly-placed bookshelves in the chilly second-floor library in the castle. Zygmunt Wasilewski, the Museum's first-hired librarian (1892), who worked there for a year or two with Żeromski (with whom he had attended school in Kielce
Kielce
Kielce ) is a city in central Poland with 204,891 inhabitants . It is also the capital city of the Świętokrzyskie Voivodeship since 1999, previously in Kielce Voivodeship...
), later recalled:
"We waded through memoirs, emigré brochures, ephemeral periodicals. And there was plenty of it all, sometimes in triplicate, for the collections had arisen from a pooling of libraries left by the more prosperous 1831 emigrés (Władysław Plater, Krystyn Ostrowski, L[eonard] Chodźko
Leonard Chodzko
Leonard Borejko Chodźko was a Polish historian, geographer, cartographer, publisher, archivist, and activist of Poland's post-November-1830-Uprising Great Emigration.-Life:...
, etc.), neatly bound and collected."
The library and archives, however, soon acquired an importance greater than the rest of the Museum. The library was built on the collections of Leonard Chodźko
Leonard Chodzko
Leonard Borejko Chodźko was a Polish historian, geographer, cartographer, publisher, archivist, and activist of Poland's post-November-1830-Uprising Great Emigration.-Life:...
, one-time aide-de-camp
Aide-de-camp
An aide-de-camp is a personal assistant, secretary, or adjutant to a person of high rank, usually a senior military officer or a head of state...
to General La Fayette
Gilbert du Motier, marquis de La Fayette
Marie-Joseph Paul Yves Roch Gilbert du Motier, Marquis de La Fayette , often known as simply Lafayette, was a French aristocrat and military officer born in Chavaniac, in the province of Auvergne in south central France...
, purchased by the Museum in 1874. After Chodźko's death, the library acquired the archives of émigré organizations and committees, the papers of institutions and associations from the period of the Great Emigration
Great Emigration
The Great Emigration was an emigration of political elites from Poland from 1831–1870. Since the end of the 18th century, a major role in Polish political life was played by people who carried out their activities outside the country as émigrés...
, as well as contemporary printed matter, engravings and maps.
In 1883 the library received Count Plater's archives, valuable sources relating to the January 1863 Uprising
January Uprising
The January Uprising was an uprising in the former Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth against the Russian Empire...
and Polish post-Uprising immigrants to Switzerland. The library also obtained Artur Wołyński's collections on the January 1863 Uprising. Henryk Bukowski augmented the collections of manuscripts pertaining to Tadeusz Kościuszko
Tadeusz Kosciuszko
Andrzej Tadeusz Bonawentura Kościuszko was a Polish–Lithuanian and American general and military leader during the Kościuszko Uprising. He is a national hero of Poland, Lithuania, the United States and Belarus...
(who had died in 1817 at Solothurn
Solothurn
The city of Solothurn is the capital of the Canton of Solothurn in Switzerland. The city also comprises the only municipality of the district of the same name.-Pre-roman settlement:...
, Switzerland).
The library received bequests from individuals in Europe and America, as well as archives of families and organizations residing in various countries. Over the 57 years until 1927, the library also gathered Polish publications that appeared outside Poland, and non-Polish publications pertaining to Poland.
During World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
, the library's collections provided material for Polish propaganda published in French, German and English.
At the turn of the 20th century, the Polish Museum's library was the largest Polish library outside Poland.
Repatriation
The Museum's founder, Count Plater, had bequeathed the collections to the Polish people. In 1927, after Poland had regained independence following World War IWorld War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
, pursuant to Plater's wishes the Museum collections were transported to Poland in fourteen railroad cars: 3,000 works of art, 2,000 historic memorabilia, 20,000 engravings, 9,000 coins and medals, 92,000 books, and 27,000 manuscripts.
The greater part of these collections, especially the library and archives, were deliberately destroyed by the Germans
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
in Warsaw
Warsaw
Warsaw is the capital and largest city of Poland. It is located on the Vistula River, roughly from the Baltic Sea and from the Carpathian Mountains. Its population in 2010 was estimated at 1,716,855 residents with a greater metropolitan area of 2,631,902 residents, making Warsaw the 10th most...
during World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
.
A notable object that survived was Tadeusz Kościuszko
Tadeusz Kosciuszko
Andrzej Tadeusz Bonawentura Kościuszko was a Polish–Lithuanian and American general and military leader during the Kościuszko Uprising. He is a national hero of Poland, Lithuania, the United States and Belarus...
's heart, which now reposes in a chapel at Warsaw
Warsaw
Warsaw is the capital and largest city of Poland. It is located on the Vistula River, roughly from the Baltic Sea and from the Carpathian Mountains. Its population in 2010 was estimated at 1,716,855 residents with a greater metropolitan area of 2,631,902 residents, making Warsaw the 10th most...
's Royal Castle
Royal Castle, Warsaw
The Royal Castle in Warsaw is a castle residency and was the official residence of the Polish monarchs. It is located in the Castle Square, at the entrance to the Warsaw Old Town. The personal offices of the king and the administrative offices of the Royal Court of Poland were located there from...
, rebuilt in the 1970s from its deliberate destruction in World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
.
Contemporary Poland
In 1936 a Museum of Contemporary Poland was established at the Rapperswil Castle, to popularize the art and achievements of independent Poland.In 1940, after some 13,000 Polish Army soldiers who had fought in France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
were interned in Switzerland, the Museum supervised educational and cultural work at the internment camps.
In 1945, at the conclusion of World War II, the Museum was taken over by the Polish People's Republic. In 1952 Rapperswil's local government, fearing that the Castle would become a center for communist propaganda
Communist propaganda
Communist propaganda is propaganda aimed to advance the ideology of communism, communist worldview and interests of the communist movement.A Bolshevik theoretician, Nikolai Bukharin, in his The ABC of Communism wrote:...
, closed the Museum.
Museum today
The Museum, reopened in 1975, now features permanent exhibits on:- The Swiss in Poland, and Poles in Switzerland;
- History of 19th- and 20th-century Polish emigrations to the West;
- History of the Polish struggle for national independence;
- Distinguished Polish scientists, artists and Nobel laureates;
- Paintings by 19th- and 20th-century Polish artists;
- Jewish culture in Poland;
- Polish folk art.
Additionally, the Museum organizes periodic special exhibits on Polish history and art.
The Polish Museum also features a library
Library
In a traditional sense, a library is a large collection of books, and can refer to the place in which the collection is housed. Today, the term can refer to any collection, including digital sources, resources, and services...
, now housed in the Burghof house (seat of the Polish cultural foundation "Libertas"), down the hill from the castle and at the top of a flight of broad steps leading up from the town. The library holds some 20,000 volumes on Polish history and culture, including works in western-European languages. The library's book catalog is accessible on the internet.
The library's memorabilia cover several centuries and include items associated with Tadeusz Kościuszko
Tadeusz Kosciuszko
Andrzej Tadeusz Bonawentura Kościuszko was a Polish–Lithuanian and American general and military leader during the Kościuszko Uprising. He is a national hero of Poland, Lithuania, the United States and Belarus...
, 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...
, Władysław Reymont and Jan Nowak-Jeziorański
Jan Nowak-Jezioranski
Jan Nowak-Jeziorański was a Polish journalist, writer, politician, social worker and patriot. He served during the Second World War as one of the most notable resistance fighters of the Home Army...
.
In 2008, some Rapperswil residents petitioned local authorities to evict the Polish Museum from its home in the Rapperswil Castle
Rapperswil Castle
Rapperswil Castle is a castle in the city of Rapperswil. It is located on the eastern shore of the Lake Zurich and belongs to the municipality of Rapperswil-Jona in the canton of St. Gallen, Switzerland...
. The Museum is conducting a petition campaign (here: http://www.rapperswil-castle.com) to retain the Museum in the Castle.
Librarians
- 1892–94 – Zygmunt Wasilewski
- 1892–96 – Stefan ŻeromskiStefan ZeromskiStefan 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 :...
- 1896–99 – Romuald Mielczarski
- 1899–1901 – Stanisław Grabski
- 1901–10 – Florian ZnanieckiFlorian ZnanieckiFlorian Witold Znaniecki was a Polish sociologist. He taught and wrote in Poland and the United States. He was the 44th President of the American Sociological Association and the founder of academic sociology studies in Poland...
, Kazimierz Woźnicki, Wacław Karczewski - 1910–15 – Władysław Kłyszewski, Stanisław Zieliński
- 1915–27 – Adam Lewak
Visitors
- Christopher KasparekChristopher KasparekChristopher Kasparek is a Scottish-born writer of Polish descent who has translated works by Ignacy Krasicki, Bolesław Prus, Florian Znaniecki, Władysław Tatarkiewicz, Marian Rejewski and Władysław Kozaczuk, as well as the Polish-Lithuanian Constitution of May 3, 1791.He has published papers on...
(2007) - Bronisław PiłsudskiBronisław PiłsudskiBronisław Piotr Piłsudski , brother of Józef Piłsudski, was a Polish cultural anthropologist who conducted outstanding research on the Ainu ethnic group, which then inhabited Sakhalin Island, but now live mostly on the Japanese island of Hokkaidō, with only a small minority left on...
(1915) - Bolesław Prus (1895)
See also
- Polish National Museum
- Polish culture during World War II
Sources
- Janusz S. Morkowski, Polish Museum, Rapperswil: Guide through the Exposition (trilingual English-German-Polish guidebook), Rapperswil, 1994, ISBN 83-900559-9-6.
- Gabriela Pauszer-Klonowska, "W Raperswilu śladami Żeromskiego i Prusa" ("In Rapperswil in the Footsteps of Żeromski and Prus"), Problemy: organ Towarzystwa Wiedzy Powszechnej (Problems: Organ of the Society of Universal Knowledge), rok XXV, nr 8 (281) [year XXV, no. 8 (281)], 1969, pp. 466–70.
- http://www.muzeum-polskie.org/muzeum/historia_eng.htm Polish Museum, Rapperswil.
- Krystyna Tokarzówna and Stanisław Fita, Bolesław Prus, 1847–1912: Kalendarz życia i twórczości (Bolesław Prus, 1847–1912: Calendar of Life and Work), Warsaw, Państwowy Insytut Wydawniczy, 1969.
External links
- http://muzeum-polskie.org/biblioteka/hist_1pl.htm Library of the Polish Museum, Rapperswil.
- http://www.rapperswil-castle.com PetitionPetitionA petition is a request to do something, most commonly addressed to a government official or public entity. Petitions to a deity are a form of prayer....
to retain the Polish Museum at the Rapperswil Castle.