Rocznik Muzeum Narodowego w Warszawie (1(37).2012/2013)

I Dr Aleksandra Krzyżanowska
(24 June 1928 -11 April 2012)

Dr Aleksandra Krzyżanowska, an eminent specialist in the numismatics of antiquity, long-
standing curator of the Department of Coins and Medals, who worked for the National
Museum in Warsaw for over half a century, died after a protracted grave illness on ii April
2012. Those familiar with her field called her Poland’s First Lady of the numismatics of
antiquity.
Krzyżanowska was born Aleksandra Zahorska on 24 June 1928 in Zaleszczyki in a fam-
ily with strong patriotic traditions. Her father was an officer with a Murmansk past, her
mother had taken part in the defence of Lvov and a grandfather had fought in the January
1863 Uprising. She herself served as a messenger in the Warsaw Uprising.
She finished secondary school in Warsaw during the Second World War. In 1946 she began
to study archaeology at the University of Warsaw, and in 1952 obtained her Master’s degree in
classical archaeology. Already in her second year of university, in August 1948, she began to
work part-time at the National Museum in Warsaw, in the Department of Ancient Art. She was
employed full-time in January 1950 as an assistant in the Department of Coins and Medals.
Almost from the beginning, Aleksandra Krzyżanowska’s scholarly interest focussed on
antique coins. Her Master’s thesis examined the iconography of the Severus family on the
basis of the Roman coin collection of the National Museum in Warsaw (published in 1957 in
the the Annuaire du Musée National de Varsovie). In October 1967 she was awarded a doctor-
ate in the humanities by the University of Warsaw, with a dissertation on Pisidian Antiochia.
Her research was supported by a grant from the Polish Academy of Sciences in France, where
she was able to study ample coin and book collections. Her dissertation, published in 1970 in
French as Monnaies coloniales dAntioche de Pisidie, won international acclaim.
In January 1968 Aleksandra Krzyżanowska was appointed curator of the Collection
of Ancient Coins, and from 1 March 1971 to 1 September 1986 served as the curator of the
Department of Coins and Medals. Heading Poland’s largest numismatic collection presented
enormous challenges and involved new responsibilities. Thus, 1974 saw the conclusion of
negotiations about bringing General Jerzy Wçsierski’s collection from London to Poland. The
collection was annotated, a catalogue was published and it was put on view as the first major
exhibition of Polish coins and medals in the museum’s post-war history. Its owners agreed to
donate the collection to the Royal Castle in Warsaw. During her tenure, other gifts enriched
the Department of Coins and Medals: the collections of Andrzej Piękoś from Canada, Father
Franciszek Gabryl from the United States and Włodzimierz Głuchowski from Łódź. In this
period the department was also exceptionally active in putting on exhibitions: an international
show of U2oth-century coins” was staged in Vienna in 1973, “Coins as mirrors of kings” was put
on at the Paris Mint in 1978 and Polish royal medals were exhibited in Brno, Kromeriz and
Gottwaldov (Zlin) in 1980. There were also shows in Poland, including a studio exhibition in
the museum’s main building and several co-organized with other Polish museums.
As well as working for the museum, Aleksandra Krzyżanowska was actively involved
in many professional organizations, for several terms chairing the board of the Polish
Archaeological and Numismatic Society and serving as a member of the Numismatic
Commission. In 1966 she joined the editorial committee of Wiadomości Numizmatyczne,