Count Józef Maksymilian Ossoliński (1748, Wola Mielecka - 17 March 1826, Vienna)
Patron and founder of the National Ossolinski Institute. Librarian, bibliophile and collector. In 1809-1826 he was prefect of the Court Library in Vienna. Historian, author of academic works on the history of Polish literature, writer and translator. A political activist. In 1817 he successfully petitioned the Viennese court to establish a chair of Polish language and literature at the University of Lwów (Lviv) (opened in 1826).
Throughout his life, he built up his own library (mainly collecting manuscripts and books), in which, with a view to future generations, he collected mainly polonica - Polish writing and literature about Poland. In 1795, after Załuski's library was moved to St Petersburg, he decided to donate his own library and museum collections to the Polish nation. In October 1816, he submitted to Emperor Francis I of Austria the Family Establishment of the Public Library under the name of Ossolinski in Lwów (Lviv) - the statute of the new institution that he had drawn up. According to the provisions of the Establishment, the library was to house a scholarly society and a printing house that would publish a scholarly journal and works on bibliography and Polish literature. The Ossolineum was also to finance research fellowships for Polish students and young scholars.
The Emperor approved the Act of Foundation on 4 June 1817. Ossoliński chose Lwów (Lviv), the capital of Galicia, as the location for the new institution. In 1817 he bought the ruined church and the former convent of the Carmelite Sisters for the future library.
Józef Maksymilian Ossoliński's initial collection consisted of about 30,000 prints (18,000 of them in Polish), over 700 manuscripts, 130 maps and atlases, about 2,000 engravings, over 350 coins and medals, 20 paintings and a collection of shells and minerals.
In 1823, in order to ensure the continued existence of the Ossolineum, Ossoliński signed an agreement with Prince Henryk Lubomirski, according to which the art collections collected by Lubomirski were to be incorporated into the Ossolineum and form a department - the Lubomirski Museum. An additional act to the agreement established the post of the Literary Curator of the Ossolineum, which was inherited by the Lubomirski family.
Józef Maksymilian Ossoliński died on 17 March 1826 in Vienna. The founder's collection was transported from Vienna to Lwów (Lviv) by Gwalbert Pawlikowski in March 1827.
Prince Henryk Lubomirski (15 October 1777, Równe - 20 October 1850, Dresden)
Aristocrat, owner of the Przeworsk estate and part of the Łańcut estate. Active in political life - in the early years of the 19th century he supported Napoleon's followers; after 1809 he served as prefect of the Cracow Department of the Duchy of Warsaw. After 1817 he was a member of the Galician States. He gave financial and diplomatic support to the November Uprising.
A collector and patron of the arts, he housed his collected and inherited collections (mainly art, but also library collections) in his residence in Przeworsk. He was the founder of the Lubomirski Museum. On 25 December 1823 he signed an agreement with Count Józef Maksymilian Ossoliński - the Agreement between Count Ossoliński and Prince Henryk Lubomirski - by which his collections were incorporated into the Ossolineum as a separate part, called the Lubomirski Museum - Musaeum Lubomirscianum. In 1834 he began his efforts with the Austrian authorities to create the Entail of Przeworsk (approved by the Emperor in 1869), as provided for in the agreement, which would secure the material existence of the Museum and the entire Ossolineum. In June 1827, Henryk Lubomirski became the first Literary Curator of the entire Institute, responsible for its operation in the broadest sense - mainly for the collection and care of the collections, scientific and publishing activities, personnel and financial management. This position was henceforth hereditary and passed on to his descendants.
Prince Henryk Lubomirski's initial collection was transferred to the Ossolineum between 1826 and 1848, and in 1869, with the approval of the Entail of Przeworsk. It consisted of 12,920 objects, including 5,520 graphic objects, about 5,150 numismatic objects, a collection of military and historical memorabilia, as well as about 2,000 prints and 250 manuscripts.
