Around the patronage of the Ossolineum in the 19th century

Abstract

The Ossolineum was a result of scientific patronage undertaken by the representatives of the cultural elite since the beginning of the 19th century creating institutions of scientific and artistic life independent from the annexing countries. Those were foundations, to a lesser degree subjects of political pressure, which could be presented by their founders as nationally indifferent. In reality, however, they played a key role in maintaining national identity, educating intelligentsia and gathering and protecting the heritage of “the nation without a country”. Inscribing in the tradition of the activity of Duchess Izabela Czartoryska in Puławy, Józef Maksymilian Ossoliński established one of the first and largest Polish libraries which since the very beginning was open to the scientific world. Along with the libraries of the Zamoyski family in Warsaw and of the Raczyński family and Tytus Działyński in the Poznańskie region they created a network of libraries (mutual contacts and exchanges of doublets) radiating onto Polish annexed territories. And similarly to those the Ossolineum being a result of the patronage generated similar initiatives with their contemporary people who donated there not only family libraries but also gathered for generation works of are and other collections. An integral part of the Ossolineum was Dukes Lubomirskis’ Museum whose owners committed themselves to support this institution thanks to the Przeworsk fee tail set up for this very purpose. The Ossolineum functioned without breaks throughout the 19th century realizing postulates of its founder and consecutive curators, namely Duke Henryk and Jerzy Henryk Lubomirski and Maurycy Dzieduszycki continuing the realization of a sentence inscribed above the Sibyl temple in Puławy: The past for the future.