DOI Heft:
*** [Wstęp (Introduction]
DOI Seite / Zitierlink: https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.21226#0011
9
***
The year 2010 proved a turning point in the common history of the National Museum in
Kraków (NMK) and the Princes Czartoryski Colłection. In January that year, the Board
of the Princes Czartoryski Foundation decided to close the Princes Czartoryski Museum
for the time of the renovation, planned by them, of the Pałace located at 19 Św. Jana St.
At the same time the Board started the next, perhaps the last stage of the implementation
of the strategy, devised almost ten years earlier, aimed at completely separating the Princes
Czartoryski Colłection from the National Museum in Kraków. In the former stages, as
a result of introducing some significant changes to the statutes of the Foundation, the
NMK was deprived of the right to influence both the current and futurę fate of the Collec-
tion, as well as the content and character of the futurę exhibition of objects in the Pałace,
after the end of the renovation works. Actually, the NMK was not informed about the
scope of the renovation, either.
So, on 10 January 2010, the public had the last opportunity to visit the galleries ar-
ranged in the early 1980s by curators from the National Museum in Kraków. Moreover,
the Board of the Foundation declared that the renovated galleries would not show paint-
ings or sculptures belonging to the National Museum in Kraków, bought by this institu-
tion to complete the Princes Czartoryski Colłection.
A separate, particularly alarming piece of information concerned the intention, sig-
nalled from time to time by the Board, to divide the Colłection and move some of its
elements outside Kraków, as well as to separate the museum colłection from the łibrary
and the archives.
As a conseąuence of all the above, we decided to devote the next volume of the ‘Papers of
the NMK’ to the Princes Czartoryski Colłection. The history of the colłection and the es-
tablishment of the Princes Czartoryski Museum in Kraków is well-known and extensively
described in literaturę. What needs studying and writing about is, however, the morę re-
cent history of the Colłection, which has constituted a Branch of the National Museum
in Kraków for the last sixty years. The history of the colłection sińce the establishment of
the ‘Princes Czartoryski Foundation at the National Museum in Kraków’ twenty years ago
should become an important part of these studies. For the beginning, this yolume includes
brief ‘Information,’ written in February 2011, when the Princes Czartoryski Pałace was
emptied and the colłection loaned to other institutions for the time of the renovation.
The ‘Information’ contains some data, never published before, including those referring
to finances and activities undertaken by the National Museum regarding the Colłection it
was entrusted with - when it comes to both the exhibits and the properties. The ‘Informa-
tion is mainly concerned with forty years (1950-1990), when the National Museum in
Kraków in a completely independent and responsible way took care of the colłection in
***
The year 2010 proved a turning point in the common history of the National Museum in
Kraków (NMK) and the Princes Czartoryski Colłection. In January that year, the Board
of the Princes Czartoryski Foundation decided to close the Princes Czartoryski Museum
for the time of the renovation, planned by them, of the Pałace located at 19 Św. Jana St.
At the same time the Board started the next, perhaps the last stage of the implementation
of the strategy, devised almost ten years earlier, aimed at completely separating the Princes
Czartoryski Colłection from the National Museum in Kraków. In the former stages, as
a result of introducing some significant changes to the statutes of the Foundation, the
NMK was deprived of the right to influence both the current and futurę fate of the Collec-
tion, as well as the content and character of the futurę exhibition of objects in the Pałace,
after the end of the renovation works. Actually, the NMK was not informed about the
scope of the renovation, either.
So, on 10 January 2010, the public had the last opportunity to visit the galleries ar-
ranged in the early 1980s by curators from the National Museum in Kraków. Moreover,
the Board of the Foundation declared that the renovated galleries would not show paint-
ings or sculptures belonging to the National Museum in Kraków, bought by this institu-
tion to complete the Princes Czartoryski Colłection.
A separate, particularly alarming piece of information concerned the intention, sig-
nalled from time to time by the Board, to divide the Colłection and move some of its
elements outside Kraków, as well as to separate the museum colłection from the łibrary
and the archives.
As a conseąuence of all the above, we decided to devote the next volume of the ‘Papers of
the NMK’ to the Princes Czartoryski Colłection. The history of the colłection and the es-
tablishment of the Princes Czartoryski Museum in Kraków is well-known and extensively
described in literaturę. What needs studying and writing about is, however, the morę re-
cent history of the Colłection, which has constituted a Branch of the National Museum
in Kraków for the last sixty years. The history of the colłection sińce the establishment of
the ‘Princes Czartoryski Foundation at the National Museum in Kraków’ twenty years ago
should become an important part of these studies. For the beginning, this yolume includes
brief ‘Information,’ written in February 2011, when the Princes Czartoryski Pałace was
emptied and the colłection loaned to other institutions for the time of the renovation.
The ‘Information’ contains some data, never published before, including those referring
to finances and activities undertaken by the National Museum regarding the Colłection it
was entrusted with - when it comes to both the exhibits and the properties. The ‘Informa-
tion is mainly concerned with forty years (1950-1990), when the National Museum in
Kraków in a completely independent and responsible way took care of the colłection in