Bulletin du Musée National de Varsovie (40.1999)

Due to its influence on the pos-twar development of Polish museums, the
Directorate-General for Museums and the Preservation of Monuments of the
Ministry of Culture and Art warrants morę detailed discussion. It was based
in the National Museum in Warsaw where its agenda also had their
headąuarters, directed by Lorentz until 1951. The Directorate-General served
as a supervisory body for scholarly and professional work, while at the same
time functioning as the main administrative centre of Polish museum activity.
The national administration and protection of archaeological, ethnographic,
historical, art, and regional museums, was centred in this institution. One of its
main tasks was the recovery of cultural items removed from Poland by the
Nazis. A card catalogue recording losses was maintained, based on information
the museum received from owners or other sources, while at the same time
a revindification campaign was conducted within Poland, first in the western
regions of the country, mainly in Silesia and Pomerania, then in West Germany
and Austria. These efforts resulted in the publication of “Work and Documents
from the Department of Recovery and Compensation in the Field of Culture”,
discussing the problem of the priority of cultural losses, as well as generał issues
of recovery and recompensation and their ethical basis, the destruction of the
Royal Castle in Warsaw, and international law for the protection of historie
monuments and art works during time of war. Individual publications were
also issued detailing the losses incurred by cities, institutions and organisations.
The Directorate-General supervised the Main Office for the Protection of
Architectural Landmarks (which also oversaw portable works of art not housed
in museums and collections), as well as the Institute of the History of Art and
the Inventory of Monuments, which assumed responsibility for the collections
reseued from the pre-war Bureau for the Inventory of Monuments. The main
goal of the Institute’s activity, which was combined in 1951 with the State
Institute of Art which had been created in 1949 (currently the Institute of Art
of the Polish Academy of Sciences), was the inventory of historie art works
in Poland, both architectural and portable, except those housed in museums.
It published a Catalogue of Monuments, which replaced the Inventory issued
before the war. The Directorate-General for Research on the Origms of the
Polish State was created in 1948, conducting interdisciplmary research in
anticipation of the nation’s millennial celebrations.

During this period the Union of Museums was also in operation, having been
reactivated soon after the liberation. The Union’s annual generał meetings
discussed problems concerned with the reconstruction of Polish Museums after
wartime destruction, as well as guidelines for planning in the field of State
museum policy. In 1945 the main topie of discussion was the socio-educational
role of museums. In 1946 a resolution was passed concerning the necessity to
recognise the department of ancient art in the National Museum in Warsaw as
the central Polish collection of ancient art. The Union of Museums worked
closely with the Directorate-General of Museums and the Preservation of
Monuments in the field of formulating State policy regarding museums,
influencing to a large degree the direction of museum development. Another

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