DOI Artikel:
Bernhard, Maria Ludwika: Słowo wste̜pne: Krakowskie zbiory starożytności
DOI Seite / Zitierlink: https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.25235#0024
Maria Ludwika Bernhard
INTRODUCTION
COLLECTIONS OF ANCIENT ART IN CRACOW
Summary
Articles in Volume X of Dissertations and Reports of the National Museum of
Kraków deal with collections of ancient art, a part of the ample and valuable as-
semblage of the Museum.
Keen interest in problems of archeology and ancient art, observed in Kraków
during the last thirty years of the 19th century, should be related to two facts; first,
in 1876, the opening of the Czartoryski Museum with its rich collections of ancient
relics, and, second, the founding of the Department of Classic Archeology at the
Jagiellonian University in 1897. The first university department of this kind, it was
founded by Piotr Bieńkowski, a prominent scholar who was also the first to initiate
scholarly work on relics of ancient art and culture in Poland.
Collections of ancient art in the National Museum acąuired their present shape
as a result of combining several smaller collections after the Second World War.
The largest one — the core of the present assemblage — comes from the old Czar-
toryski Museum. Among others, the collection of antiąuities from Krzeszowice, ac-
cumulated by the Potocki family and during the war transported to Kraków, should
also be mentioned. About twenty relics came from the collection of Emeryk Hut-
ten-Czapski, and there are ancient numismatics — from the collections of Franci-
szek Piekosiński and Karol Halama.
The collection of antiąuities was initiated by Władysław Czartoryski, brother of
Isabella Działyńska who, together with her husband Tytus, assembled a magnificent
collection of antiąuities which was in 1886 published by J. de Witte and then trans-
ported from Paris (Hotel Lambert) to the museum which the Działyński family had
founded in Gołuchów. Władysław Czartoryski, most probably encouraged by his
sister and brother-in-law’s example, becorne involved in the gentle rivałry of collec-
tions antiąuities. He found in Poland a magnificent adviser, Józef Łepkowski, with
whom he kept in contact. Unfortunately, during the war all the documents which
the the first Kraków archeologist had left were lost in Warsaw. His merits for the
Jagiellonian University must also be mentioned, as he was the founder of the Ar-
cheological Office.
It is difficult to characterise the Czartoryski collection of antiąuities in a couple
of sentences. Nevertheless, apart from its museum value, its scholarly significance
must be emphasised. Czartoryski tried to find for his collection samples of all cen-
ters of ancient culture, as far as it was possible in view of the supply offered by
antiąuarian markets. Relics of Mesopotamian civilizations are rather scarce in num-
ber; the collections of Egyptian art are much ampler and they represent well enough,
the main stages of ancient Egyptian culture. The papyri, published by Tadeusz
Andrzejewski, are especially worth mentioning. Greek materials were much morę
thoroughly investigated and better published. One of the volumes of Corpus Vasorum
Antiąuorum, Pologne 2, Cracovie 1935, can serve as representative example. Original
Greek plastic arts — as it is usual for collections of this kind — are represented by
smali figurines of stone, bronze and terracołta. Those are supplemented by several
marble statues and heads (Roman copies). This collection was considerably enlarged
18
INTRODUCTION
COLLECTIONS OF ANCIENT ART IN CRACOW
Summary
Articles in Volume X of Dissertations and Reports of the National Museum of
Kraków deal with collections of ancient art, a part of the ample and valuable as-
semblage of the Museum.
Keen interest in problems of archeology and ancient art, observed in Kraków
during the last thirty years of the 19th century, should be related to two facts; first,
in 1876, the opening of the Czartoryski Museum with its rich collections of ancient
relics, and, second, the founding of the Department of Classic Archeology at the
Jagiellonian University in 1897. The first university department of this kind, it was
founded by Piotr Bieńkowski, a prominent scholar who was also the first to initiate
scholarly work on relics of ancient art and culture in Poland.
Collections of ancient art in the National Museum acąuired their present shape
as a result of combining several smaller collections after the Second World War.
The largest one — the core of the present assemblage — comes from the old Czar-
toryski Museum. Among others, the collection of antiąuities from Krzeszowice, ac-
cumulated by the Potocki family and during the war transported to Kraków, should
also be mentioned. About twenty relics came from the collection of Emeryk Hut-
ten-Czapski, and there are ancient numismatics — from the collections of Franci-
szek Piekosiński and Karol Halama.
The collection of antiąuities was initiated by Władysław Czartoryski, brother of
Isabella Działyńska who, together with her husband Tytus, assembled a magnificent
collection of antiąuities which was in 1886 published by J. de Witte and then trans-
ported from Paris (Hotel Lambert) to the museum which the Działyński family had
founded in Gołuchów. Władysław Czartoryski, most probably encouraged by his
sister and brother-in-law’s example, becorne involved in the gentle rivałry of collec-
tions antiąuities. He found in Poland a magnificent adviser, Józef Łepkowski, with
whom he kept in contact. Unfortunately, during the war all the documents which
the the first Kraków archeologist had left were lost in Warsaw. His merits for the
Jagiellonian University must also be mentioned, as he was the founder of the Ar-
cheological Office.
It is difficult to characterise the Czartoryski collection of antiąuities in a couple
of sentences. Nevertheless, apart from its museum value, its scholarly significance
must be emphasised. Czartoryski tried to find for his collection samples of all cen-
ters of ancient culture, as far as it was possible in view of the supply offered by
antiąuarian markets. Relics of Mesopotamian civilizations are rather scarce in num-
ber; the collections of Egyptian art are much ampler and they represent well enough,
the main stages of ancient Egyptian culture. The papyri, published by Tadeusz
Andrzejewski, are especially worth mentioning. Greek materials were much morę
thoroughly investigated and better published. One of the volumes of Corpus Vasorum
Antiąuorum, Pologne 2, Cracovie 1935, can serve as representative example. Original
Greek plastic arts — as it is usual for collections of this kind — are represented by
smali figurines of stone, bronze and terracołta. Those are supplemented by several
marble statues and heads (Roman copies). This collection was considerably enlarged
18