“The Ossolineum Could Give Wrocław a Future…”
The post-war beginnings of the Ossoliński National Institute in photographs
By Ossoliński National Institute
Grzegorz Polak
The Ossolineum in Wrocław
This is how the entrance to the Ossoliński National Institute in Wrocław looked after 1945. This prominent Polish institution was founded by Count Józef Maksymilian Ossoliński. Set up in 1817 in Lviv, Ossolineum had operated there until the Second World War.
Courtyard of St. Matthias Grammar School in Wrocław (1920-1930) by UnknownOssoliński National Institute
The courtyard
The Baroque edifice with courtyard was built at the turn of the 18th century. In its 300-year history, it has served various functions. It was built as a monastery, then became the seat of a school. In 1946, the Ossolineum research library was housed there.
The building of the former St. Matthias Grammar School in Wrocław after it was taken over by the University authorities. The characteristic dome of the building was damaged during World War II. It was first secured and then rebuilt in subsequent years. It largely regained its splendour in the mid-1990s, when the stuccowork was reconstructed inside. Nowadays, the most beautiful room in the Ossolineum with frescoes from the early 18th century is located under the cupola.
Location
After the borders were changed in 1945, the Polish government decided to recreate the Lviv Ossolineum in a new place. Various locations were considered. Eventually, Wrocław was chosen, as at the time it was dramatically short of libraries with Polish books.
Post-war winter in the courtyard of the Ossolineum Library (1946) by UnknownOssoliński National Institute
Snow
Snow falling on the well and mounded earth in the baroque courtyard of the Ossolineum reactivated after World War II. Emptiness. The first employees were hired at the Ossolineum in mid-1946, while the first group of people arrived there in autumn, just before the first snowfall.
Clearing the area in front of the Ossolineum Library of war damage (1948) by UnknownOssoliński National Institute
The museum
The area around the Ossolineum was tidied up before the World Congress of Intellectuals for the Defence of Peace in Wrocław in 1948. Currently, preparations are under way to build a new building for the Ossolineum’s Lubomirski Museum.
Renovation of the southern part of the Ossolineum building (1948-1949) by UnknownOssoliński National Institute
The wing
About 110 years ago, the wing that connected the building to St Matthew’s Church existed in that place. All that remains of it is the projected part visible in the photo. The wing was demolished to create a sports field for the young people attending the grammar school which operated there.
Arranging Lviv books (early imprints) on shelves in the Ossolineum Library (1948) by UnknownOssoliński National Institute
The stacks
The Ossolineum Library began its operation in Wrocław relying on the collections that arrived from Lviv “as a gift from the Ukrainian nation to the Polish nation” in 1946-1947. These included books as well as valuable manuscripts and old prints dating from the 16th–18th centuries.
First reading room in the Wrocław Ossolineum (1947-1949) by UnknownOssoliński National Institute
Reading rooms
In academic libraries with diverse and valuable collections, items can be accessed in reading rooms. The Ossolineum has reading rooms for special collections, i.e. manuscripts, old prints, periodicals, social life documents, cartography, microforms and digital collections.
The main reading room
In addition to specialised reading rooms, the Ossolineum also has the Main Reading Room, where books published from the 19th to the 21st century are accessible. It was opened temporarily in 1947 to be soon moved to its present location. Currently, the book collection includes over one million titles.
The assembly hall
The assembly hall, renovated after the war, today bears the name of Professor Mieczysław Gębarowicz, the last director of the Ossolineum in Lviv. Once, in monastic times, it housed the carriage house. Today it serves as a venue for exhibitions, conferences, concerts and meetings.
The plaque
Symbolically, placing of the plaque the on the building wall on Szewska Street in Wrocław, informing about the Ossolineum, highlighted the fact that the institution’s activity as a library, started in Lviv in 1817, was being continued.
Edward Kiernicki, Franciszek Pajączkowski and Maria Zembatówna watch a solar eclipse (1954-06-30) by UnknownOssoliński National Institute
Ossolineum today
After almost 80 years of its existence, the Ossolineum in Wrocław ranks among the most important cultural institutions in Poland. Today, its structure includes not only the Library, but also the Museum of the Lubomirski Princes, the Pan Tadeusz Museum and the Publishing House.
