DOI issue:
Nr. 4
DOI article:Artykuły
DOI article:Jamski, Piotr J.: Wystawa Zdobnictwa Ludwisarskiego - Lwów 1920
DOI Page / Citation link:https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.71010#0838
824
Piotr J. Jamski
Exhibition of Bell-Making Decorations, Lwów 1920
At the end of 1914 and in early 1915, the German
concept of blitzkrieg on the western front failed,
while on the eastern front, the latter exceptionally
long, as stretching from the outlet of the Neman up
to the Carpathians, the situation had stabilized. At
that moment, the generals on both sides realized that
the fights would go on for longer than they had
anticipated. They swiftly prepared terrain for the
planned war activities: troops were being regrouped,
recruits called up, arms and strategic resources
stored, civilians evacuated, major factories moved,
cultural goods taken away, etc. At that point, the
action of bell requisition was launched; during a war
bells, once melted, could provide material for the
production of guns and ammunition. It was for the
first time in the military history that the demand for
high-grade metals was so pressing, and such a large-
scale logistically complex project of making lists of,
accumulating, and transferring of some dozen or
maybe even some hundred thousands of bells on the
European territory was conducted. This complex
operation involved central state institutions, as well
as regional ones, and many civic organizations. War
requisitions on the Polish territories occurred almost
simultaneously on those of the three partitions.
Begun already in 1915, they climaxed in the autumn
of 1916. During the evacuation, social collections,
and the bell requisition, the clergy and historians
came across numerous historic items: 'quite many
priests had an opportunity to realize for the first time
and see from so close that they had to do with a lot of
precious specimens'. The distinguished art historian
and monument conservator Tadeusz Szydłowski in
the introduction to his study dedicated to bells, and
published in 1922, lamented over the fact that no
inventory had been made of them before the War, as
then it would have been easier to protect the historic
ones against the requisition. The Poles involved in the
transportation of the bells across the territories of the
three partitions as well as lovers of the antiquities
organized bells' listing, so that later the demand for
the return of specific items or for compensation could
be made, this actually in compliance with the existing
legal regulations.
Held at the Lwów Museum of King John III, the
Exhibition of Bell-making Decoration launched on 10
July 1920, constituted the outcome of the collection
of high-grade metals ordered several years before by
all the armies fighting in WW I. It was for the first
time on the Polish territory that accomplishments of
this branch of artistic craftsmanship were presented,
and this may have been the only such large-scale
display ever organized in Polish museums.
A historian of literature by education, Karol
Badecki, PhD, a Lwów archivist, was the Exhibition's
originator and Curator. The requisitions prompted
him to take interest in the bells from Galicia Catholic
and Orthodox churches. With time, he was appointed
a 'bell conservator' responsible for the proper
implementation ofthe instruments' requisition. While
documenting the requisitioned bells, Karol Badecki
and people around him observed the following
challenges: the urgency to restore in the Galicia
churches the same number ofbells as before the War;
the need to improve the quality of their casts; the
creation of real capacities for the revival of bell-
making; as well as the preparation of documents
meant to facilitate the war reparations and com-
pensations. The majority of claims were voiced by
Badecki in the article 'For the Sake of Our Future
Bell-making', published in instalments in the 'Nowa
Polska' periodical and in the appeal: 'Let Us Create
Our Native Bell-making' sent out to many Polish
magazines.
'The Exhibition of Bell-making Decoration',
whose range in the course of the preparation was
extended to all bell making, was meant not only to
demonstrate the output of Galicia's bell-making and
the incurred losses: it was to factually support the
idea of establishing a Lwów bell foundry and of the
revival of this craftsmanship. The Lwów display,
prepared already during the Polish-Soviet War, was
successful, which cannot be said of the initiative to
launch a modern artistic bell-foundry in the city.
Following the Exhibition's closure, some exhibits
remained with the Curator, who tried in vain to
transfer them to different institutions.
In the statements made by the individuals involved
in the war register ofbells (K. Badecki, A. Borawski,
J. Remer, M. Morelowski, M. Brensztejn), and
recorded before 1923, claims to conduct some
professional research into bell-making can be heard.
In later Polish campanological writing of the inter-
war period the issue of establishing an all-Polish
programme for bell records was not retackled.
Following the intense cataloguing of bells during
WW I such research was given up. The crowning of
Karol Badecki's works was to be found in the
publication he was preparing for print in 1933. What
has been preserved of it is the draft layout of its title
page: 'Epigraphies and Ornaments of Lesser Poland
(Poland's Southern Territories) Bells in the 17th
Piotr J. Jamski
Exhibition of Bell-Making Decorations, Lwów 1920
At the end of 1914 and in early 1915, the German
concept of blitzkrieg on the western front failed,
while on the eastern front, the latter exceptionally
long, as stretching from the outlet of the Neman up
to the Carpathians, the situation had stabilized. At
that moment, the generals on both sides realized that
the fights would go on for longer than they had
anticipated. They swiftly prepared terrain for the
planned war activities: troops were being regrouped,
recruits called up, arms and strategic resources
stored, civilians evacuated, major factories moved,
cultural goods taken away, etc. At that point, the
action of bell requisition was launched; during a war
bells, once melted, could provide material for the
production of guns and ammunition. It was for the
first time in the military history that the demand for
high-grade metals was so pressing, and such a large-
scale logistically complex project of making lists of,
accumulating, and transferring of some dozen or
maybe even some hundred thousands of bells on the
European territory was conducted. This complex
operation involved central state institutions, as well
as regional ones, and many civic organizations. War
requisitions on the Polish territories occurred almost
simultaneously on those of the three partitions.
Begun already in 1915, they climaxed in the autumn
of 1916. During the evacuation, social collections,
and the bell requisition, the clergy and historians
came across numerous historic items: 'quite many
priests had an opportunity to realize for the first time
and see from so close that they had to do with a lot of
precious specimens'. The distinguished art historian
and monument conservator Tadeusz Szydłowski in
the introduction to his study dedicated to bells, and
published in 1922, lamented over the fact that no
inventory had been made of them before the War, as
then it would have been easier to protect the historic
ones against the requisition. The Poles involved in the
transportation of the bells across the territories of the
three partitions as well as lovers of the antiquities
organized bells' listing, so that later the demand for
the return of specific items or for compensation could
be made, this actually in compliance with the existing
legal regulations.
Held at the Lwów Museum of King John III, the
Exhibition of Bell-making Decoration launched on 10
July 1920, constituted the outcome of the collection
of high-grade metals ordered several years before by
all the armies fighting in WW I. It was for the first
time on the Polish territory that accomplishments of
this branch of artistic craftsmanship were presented,
and this may have been the only such large-scale
display ever organized in Polish museums.
A historian of literature by education, Karol
Badecki, PhD, a Lwów archivist, was the Exhibition's
originator and Curator. The requisitions prompted
him to take interest in the bells from Galicia Catholic
and Orthodox churches. With time, he was appointed
a 'bell conservator' responsible for the proper
implementation ofthe instruments' requisition. While
documenting the requisitioned bells, Karol Badecki
and people around him observed the following
challenges: the urgency to restore in the Galicia
churches the same number ofbells as before the War;
the need to improve the quality of their casts; the
creation of real capacities for the revival of bell-
making; as well as the preparation of documents
meant to facilitate the war reparations and com-
pensations. The majority of claims were voiced by
Badecki in the article 'For the Sake of Our Future
Bell-making', published in instalments in the 'Nowa
Polska' periodical and in the appeal: 'Let Us Create
Our Native Bell-making' sent out to many Polish
magazines.
'The Exhibition of Bell-making Decoration',
whose range in the course of the preparation was
extended to all bell making, was meant not only to
demonstrate the output of Galicia's bell-making and
the incurred losses: it was to factually support the
idea of establishing a Lwów bell foundry and of the
revival of this craftsmanship. The Lwów display,
prepared already during the Polish-Soviet War, was
successful, which cannot be said of the initiative to
launch a modern artistic bell-foundry in the city.
Following the Exhibition's closure, some exhibits
remained with the Curator, who tried in vain to
transfer them to different institutions.
In the statements made by the individuals involved
in the war register ofbells (K. Badecki, A. Borawski,
J. Remer, M. Morelowski, M. Brensztejn), and
recorded before 1923, claims to conduct some
professional research into bell-making can be heard.
In later Polish campanological writing of the inter-
war period the issue of establishing an all-Polish
programme for bell records was not retackled.
Following the intense cataloguing of bells during
WW I such research was given up. The crowning of
Karol Badecki's works was to be found in the
publication he was preparing for print in 1933. What
has been preserved of it is the draft layout of its title
page: 'Epigraphies and Ornaments of Lesser Poland
(Poland's Southern Territories) Bells in the 17th