Ossolineum Library
The Ossolineum Library is the oldest and largest part of the National Ossolinski Institute. The library maintains, develops, multiplies and makes available collections of Polish and Slavic humanities.
The National Ossolinski Institute Foundation, or Ossolineum, is one of the most important and oldest cultural institutions in Poland. It was founded in 1817 (with the permission of Emperor Francis I) by the bibliophile and collector Count Józef Maksymilian Ossoliński (1748-1826). He chose Lviv as the location for the Ossolineum. In 1823 he signed another agreement with the collector and art patron Prince Henryk Lubomirski (1777-1850). The Lubomirski Museum was thus established in the Ossolineum, and Ossoliński not only enriched the Foundation's collections, but also provided it with funds from the estates of wealthier aristocrats. The Ossolineum has now been in existence for over 200 years and has been involved in library, museum, publishing, scientific and cultural activities.
The current departments of the Ossolineum are as follows.
Today, the Ossolineum collection comprises more than two million items. It consists of books, periodicals, manuscripts, documents, old prints, drawings, engravings, paintings, ex-libris, medals, coins, seals, maps and plans, posters, brochures, posters, microforms. We make them available on a daily basis in eight on-site reading rooms, as well as through temporary exhibitions in museums and the library. Part of the digital collection is available online.
The Ossolineum collection began with the collection of its Founder in Vienna. In 1827 it was transferred to Lviv, which became the seat of the National Ossolinski Institute. In 1823, the Lubomirski Museum was established as a department of the Institute and opened to the public in 1870. In the following years the Ossolineum collection was gradually expanded. On the eve of the outbreak of the Second World War, it became one of the largest collections of art, historical memorabilia and library holdings in the humanities, especially history, literature and related fields in Poland.
The history of the Ossolineum was a turbulent one, as it first operated during the Partitions and then, during the wars, the front passed through Lviv several times. The inter-war period was a period of prosperity for the Ossolineum. After the outbreak of the Second World War, the Soviet occupiers liquidated the Ossolineum Publishing House and the Lubomirski Museum. The library's collection was first transferred to the Lviv branch of the Library of the Academy of Sciences in Kiev, then (under German occupation) to the Staatsbibliothek Lemberg. The authorities of the Ossolineum worked in conspiracy. After the Second World War, the Polish scientific and cultural community demanded the restoration of the Ossolineum. Wroclaw was chosen. However, only about 30% of the pre-war collection of the Ossolineum ended up here. In 1953, the Foundation was incorporated into the Polish Academy of Sciences and effectively lost its independence.
It was not until 1995 that the Sejm of the Republic of Poland passed a law restoring the Institute to its former name and status as a foundation. The library began to operate again under the banner of the National Ossolinski Institute. At the beginning of the 21st century, the Ossolineum began to cooperate with the Vasyl Stefanyk National Scientific Library of Ukraine in Lviv and other institutions in Lviv. This cooperation is aimed at cataloguing, preserving, digitising and disseminating the old Ossolineum collection. In 2007, by the decision of the Sejm of the Republic of Poland, the Museum of the Lubomirski Princes was revived. In 2015 the Ossolineum Publishing House returned to the structures of the Institute. In 2016 the Pan Tadeusz Museum was established.
