General Information
The Czartoryski Museum was founded in Puławy in 1801 by Princess Izabela Czartoryska who, in accordance with the fashion of her time, liked to collect “curiosities”. Its impressive collection includes priceless artefacts and antiquities, as well as the only painting by Leonardo da Vinci in Poland: “The Lady with an Ermine”.
Additional Information
Today the museum is administered by the Princes Czartoryski Foundation set up by Prince Adam Karol in 1991. It welcomes more than 12,000 visitors a year and has organised exhibitions throughout the world.
History: Highlights
The museum’s collections were partly destroyed after the November uprising of 1830-31 and the confiscation of the Czartoryski family’s property by the Russians. Most of the museum holdings, however, were saved and moved to Paris where they stayed until they arrived in Krakow in 1876.
Back on the Polish Land: Highlights
During its stay in Paris, the collection was reposed at the Hôtel Lambert. In 1870 Prince Władysław Czartoryski decided to move the collections to Krakow, where they arrived six years later. The city was granted a degree of autonomy after the Austro-Hungarian Compromise of 1867.
Back on the Polish Land: Explained
In 1871, after the French defeat in the Franco-Prussian War, Prince Władysław packed or hid all of the artefacts and fled. In 1874, the city of Krakow offered the arsenal in the Old Wall to him to serve as a museum, which he called upon Viollet-le-Duc to renovate, who in turn delegated the project to his son-in-law Maurice Ouradou. In 1878, one hundred years after Princess Izabela set up her museum in Puławy, the new museum, as it is seen today, was opened. Prince Władysław continued to add items to the collection for the next twenty years, until his death in 1894.
Collection: Highlights
The museum collections feature historical artefacts from the recovered treasures of the Wawel Cathedral, the Royal Castle and other objects donated by Polish noble families. The library’s book collection was enhanced with Tadeusz Czacki’s donation, which included archives of Stanisław August Poniatowski, the last king of Poland.
Collection: Explained
Izabela also bought the treasures of the Duke of Brabant, including his books which were considered a particular highlight of the collection. Influenced by the Romantic artistic movement, she also acquired objects of sentimental significance that represented the glory and misery of human life.
Among these were Shakespeare’s chair, fragments from the alleged graves of Romeo and Juliet in Verona, ashes of El Cid and Ximena from the Cathedral of Burgos and relics of Abelard and Heloise as well as Petrarch and his Laura. In 1798 Izabela’s son, Prince Adam Jerzy Czartoryski, travelled to Italy and acquired “Lady with an Ermine” by Leonardo da Vinci, Raphael’s “Portrait of a Young Man” and many Roman antiquities.
After the failed November Uprising in 1830 the prince was exiled from Congress Poland, then ruled by Russian Empire. He established himself in Paris, and in 1843 bought the Hôtel Lambert, which became both the centre of operations for the exiled Czartoryski magnate, and the Living Museum of Poland. All the objects from the first museum were displayed in Paris. Books collection scattered and for decades its parts were stored out of Russian partition: in Kórnik, Sieniawa and in Paris.
Upon Prince Adam Jerzy’s death, his younger son, Prince Władysław, took over the museum. A born collector, he and his sister, Princess Izabela Działyńska, expanded the collection to include: the Polonaise carpet, Etruscan and Greek vases, Roman and Egyptian antiquities and other types of arms and armours, as well as Limoges enamels. At the 1865 Exposition des Arts Decoratifs in Paris, Władysław created a Polish room to exhibit the famous carpet and other parts of his collection.
In 1914, Prince Adam Ludwik was called up to the Austrian Army and his wife Princess Maria Ludwika Krasińska took over the Museum, taking most of the important artefacts (52 paintings, 12 carpets, 35 folders of prints and drawings, and works by Leonardo da Vinci, Raphael and Rembrandt) to Dresden because of her connections with the Royal Saxon Family. These works garnered great interest, with the collection being open to the public two days a week.
In 1918, after the war, Hans Posse, director of the royal collections, was unwilling to return the collection. He was fearful of the unrest in Poland. However, after two years of negotiation, all objects were recovered and transferred to the Family Museum in Krakow in 1920. The signing of the 1921 Treaty of Riga provided for the return of all looted or confiscated objects during tsarist absolutism due to the Bolshevik revolution.
In 1931 a large number of important books, archives and objects that had been taken by Russians 100 years earlier from Puławy were also returned, though most of these were placed in various national depositories.
Later History: Highlights
In 1939, preparing for World War II, Adam Ludwik’s son, Prince Augustyn removed what remained of the treasures and took them to his cousin’s property in Pełkinie. After the war, the museum was reopened and run by the communist government.
Later History: Explained
After World War II began, sixteen cases packed with the most precious objects were transported and stored in Sieniawa, while the rest of the collection was carried down to the cellars of the museum, where unfortunately the Germans found the cases and looted the tradable objects. Luckily, although the da Vinci and other pictures were roughly handled, they were not damaged.
Although the post-war economic situation was bad, the museum survived thanks to the work of its long-standing curator, professor Marek Rostworowski, who dedicated his life to the collection.
In 1991, the museum was returned to its rightful owner, Prince Adam Karol Czartoryski, along with the library housed in a nearby building. From 1961, the library has been located in the building at Św. Marka Street. Ten years later, the Czartoryski Library was recognised as National Library.