Załuski Library
Załuski Library | |
---|---|
General information | |
Architectural style | Rococo |
Town or city | Warsaw |
Country | Poland |
Construction started | 1621 |
Completed | 1624 |
Client | Józef Andrzej Załuski, Andrzej Stanisław Załuski |
Design and construction | |
Architect(s) | Francesco Antonio Melana (1736-1745) |
The Załuski Library (
Overview
The library was the first Polish public library, the largest library in Poland, and one of the earliest public libraries in Europe.
History
Creation
The Załuski brothers' greatest passion was
Operation
The Załuski Library was considered the first Polish public library[4] and one of the largest libraries in the contemporary world.[2] In all of Europe there were only two or three libraries that could boast such holdings.[5] The library initially held some 200,000 items, which grew to some 400,000 printed items, maps and manuscripts[2][6] by the end of the 1780s. It also accumulated a collection of art, scientific instruments, and plant and animal specimens.
This library, open on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 7:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m., asked patrons to be quiet and to say a prayer in the intention of the Załuski brothers.
After the brothers' deaths, the newly formed
Looting and destruction
Twenty years later in 1794, in the aftermath of the
Parts of the collections were damaged or destroyed as they were mishandled while being removed from the library and transported to Russia, and many were stolen.[2][5] According to the historian Joachim Lelewel, the books from the Zaluskis' collection "could be bought at Grodno by the basket".[2] The collection was later dispersed among several Russian libraries.
Successor
Some parts of the Zaluski collection returned to
Repeated destruction
In
Present times
After the war, some of the items were successfully recovered and returned to the
Building
For the purpose of establishing the library, the brothers acquired the 17th-century Daniłowicz Palace in
The building's reconstruction in rococo style was accomplished by Francesco Antonio Melana and his brother in 1745,[12] thus enabling the Załuski brothers to officially establish the Załuski Library (Biblioteka Załuskich) two years later. The establishment had two stories, with a large and lavishly decorated reading room located on the second floor, and was topped with a small tower containing an astronomical observatory.[2]
Following the library's looting and closure, its original seat was used for flour storage after 1807, and was subsequently altered into a
After the war, the original building was rebuilt under the Polish People's Republic. During the building's reconstruction, the busts of Polish monarchs that had originally adorned the library's interiors, and which had been hidden during the Partitions of Poland, were discovered and placed on the building's facade; hence the building has come to be called the "House Under the Kings" (Dom pod Królami).[10] It has thereafter served as the headquarters of the Society of Authors ZAiKS.
Gallery
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Załuski Library under construction, by Vogel
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"House of the Kings" deliberately destroyed by the Germans in World War II
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"House of the Kings" today (ul. Daniłowiczowska 14, corner of ul. Hipoteczna 2, Warsaw)
See also
- Polish National Library
- Jagiellonian Library
- Royal Library in Warsaw
- Minuscule 569
- Ossolineum
Notes
- ^ S. D. Chrostowska. "Polish Literary Criticism Circa 1772: A Genre Perspective". utoronto.ca. Archived from the original on 2008-02-03. Retrieved 2008-02-17.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o Maria Witt (September–October 2005). "The Zaluski Collection in Warsaw". The Strange Life of One of the Greatest European Libraries of the Eighteenth Century. FYI France. Archived from the original on 2021-03-01. Retrieved 2008-02-17.
- ^ ISBN 0-275-99007-9.
- ^ "Bygone Warsaw". polbox.pl. Archived from the original on 2008-03-14. Retrieved 2008-02-17.
- ^ a b c d e f Lech Chmielewski. "In the House under the Sign of the Kings". Welcome to Warsaw. Archived from the original on 2009-02-03. Retrieved 2008-02-17.
- ^ ISBN 978-0-8247-2023-0. Retrieved 2008-02-17.
- ^ Katarzyna Czechowicz (August 14, 2007). "The 260th anniversary of opening the Załuski Library". eduskrypt.pl. Archived from the original on 2017-08-14. Retrieved 2008-02-17.
- ISBN 0-06-008287-9. Retrieved 2008-02-17.
- ISBN 1-55849-253-4. Retrieved 2008-02-17.
Zaluski library.
- ^ a b c d "Dom pod Królami". warszawa1939.pl (in Polish). Retrieved 2008-02-17.
- ^ Stuart Dowell (17 May 2023). "British Earl returns 16th century literary treasure to National Library". thefirstnews.com. Retrieved 19 May 2023.
- ISBN 83-7009-000-1.
References
- Jan Kozłowski, Szkice o dziejach Biblioteki Załuskich. Publisher: Zakład Narodowy Imienia Ossolińskich, Polish Academy of Sciences, Wrocław, 1986. Retrieved October 23, 2011.
- Heinz Lemke, Die Brüder Zaluski und ihre Beziehungen zu Gelehren in Deutschland und Danzig, Berlin 1958
- Marian Łodyński, Z dziejów "Biblioteki Rzeczypospolitej Załuskich zwanej" w l. 1785-94, Warszawa 1935
- Jan Kozłowski, Biblioteka Załuskich w dwunastu odsłonach, "Roczniki Biblioteki Narodowej" 33:2001
- Jan Kozłowski, Źródła do rekonstrukcji Biblioteki Załuskich, Z badań nad polskimi księgozbiorami historycznymi, 15(1993)
- Stanisław Roszak, Środowisko intelektualne i artystyczne Warszawy w połowie XVIII w. Między kulturą Sarmatyzmu a Oświecenia, Toruń 1997
- Tadeusz Zarzębski, Biblioteka Rzeczypospolitej Załuskich zwana (Fakty z dziejów), "Roczniki Biblioteki Narodowej" 27/28:1991/92
- Pamiątki dziejów Biblioteki Załuskich, opr. Joanna Płaza i Bożena Sajna, Biblioteka Narodowa, Warszawa 1997
- Piotr Bańkowski, Ze studiów nad rękopisami byłej cesarskiej biblioteki publicznej w Petersburgu Nakładem "Przeglądu Bibliotecznego", Kraków 1937
External links
- FYI France Essay Archived 2013-12-09 at the Wayback Machine The Strange Life of One of the Greatest European Libraries of the Eighteenth Century: the Zaluski Collection in Warsaw
- Welcome In the House under the Sign of the Kings