DOI Heft:
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DOI Artikel:Załęski, Krzysztof: Stanisław Lorentz as the creator of the "Modern" National Museum
DOI Seite / Zitierlink: https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.18948#0024
1. The old residence
of the National Museum
in Warsaw
at no. 15 Podwale Street
The Museum of Fine Arts contained items from various fields which had
entered the collection in the years preceding the outbreak of World War I,
mainly as gifts based on the anachronistic 19th century concept of the museum
as repository institution for artistic, historical, and ethnographic collections.
The holdings of the National Museum expanded thanks to purchases from
city funds, subsidised by the Fund for National Culture, as well as from
donations from society at large. When the finał decision was madę to erect
a new building and construction was begun according to Tadeusz Tołwińskrs
design from 1926 on land purchased for the purpose in 1912, the outlook was
optimistic. Unfortunately, financial problems developed as a result of the
growing economic crisis and in particular the bankruptcy of the construction
company. As a result, after pavilions I and II were erected (with a grand
opening in early 1932 of the department of decorative arts), together with
pavilions VI, VII, and VIII intended for the Museum of the Army, construction
came to a standstill in 1932. There was little activity undertaken in mounting
exhibitions, contemporary publications were lacking, and there was a shortage
of specialists from the field of art as well - the only art historian employed in
the museum was Stanisław Gebethner. A period of criticism ensued, with
22
of the National Museum
in Warsaw
at no. 15 Podwale Street
The Museum of Fine Arts contained items from various fields which had
entered the collection in the years preceding the outbreak of World War I,
mainly as gifts based on the anachronistic 19th century concept of the museum
as repository institution for artistic, historical, and ethnographic collections.
The holdings of the National Museum expanded thanks to purchases from
city funds, subsidised by the Fund for National Culture, as well as from
donations from society at large. When the finał decision was madę to erect
a new building and construction was begun according to Tadeusz Tołwińskrs
design from 1926 on land purchased for the purpose in 1912, the outlook was
optimistic. Unfortunately, financial problems developed as a result of the
growing economic crisis and in particular the bankruptcy of the construction
company. As a result, after pavilions I and II were erected (with a grand
opening in early 1932 of the department of decorative arts), together with
pavilions VI, VII, and VIII intended for the Museum of the Army, construction
came to a standstill in 1932. There was little activity undertaken in mounting
exhibitions, contemporary publications were lacking, and there was a shortage
of specialists from the field of art as well - the only art historian employed in
the museum was Stanisław Gebethner. A period of criticism ensued, with
22