The Załuski Library (, ) established in

Warsaw Warsaw, officially the Capital City of Warsaw, is the capital and List of cities and towns in Poland, largest city of Poland. The metropolis stands on the Vistula, River Vistula in east-central Poland. Its population is officially estimated at ...

in 1747 by Józef Andrzej Załuski and his brother,

Andrzej Stanisław Załuski Andrzej Stanisław Kostka Załuski (2 December 1695 – 16 December 1758) was a priest (bishop) in the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth. In his religious career he held the posts of abbot and later Bishop of Płock (from 1723), bishop of Ł ...

, both

Roman Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics worldwide as of 2025. It is among the world's oldest and largest international institut ...

bishops, was a

public library A public library is a library, most often a lending library, that is accessible by the general public and is usually funded from public sources, such as taxes. It is operated by librarians and library paraprofessionals, who are also Civil servic ...

nationalized and renamed upon its founders' death into the Załuski Library of the Commonwealth () which existed until the final demise of Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth in the

Third Partition of Poland The Third Partition of Poland (1795) was the last in a series of the Partitions of Poland–Lithuania and the land of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth among Prussia, the Habsburg monarchy, and the Russian Empire which effectively ended Polis ...

in 1795.

Overview

The library was the first Polish public library, the largest library in Poland, and one of the earliest public libraries in Europe. After the

Kościuszko Uprising The Kościuszko Uprising, also known as the Polish Uprising of 1794, Second Polish War, Polish Campaign of 1794, and the Polish Revolution of 1794, was an uprising against the Russian and Prussian influence on the Polish–Lithuanian Common ...

(1794), Russian troops, acting on orders from Czarina

Catherine II Catherine II. (born Princess Sophie of Anhalt-Zerbst; 2 May 172917 November 1796), most commonly known as Catherine the Great, was the reigning empress of Russia from 1762 to 1796. She came to power after overthrowing her husband, Peter III ...

, seized the library's holdings and transported them to her personal collection at

Saint Petersburg Saint Petersburg, formerly known as Petrograd and later Leningrad, is the List of cities and towns in Russia by population, second-largest city in Russia after Moscow. It is situated on the Neva, River Neva, at the head of the Gulf of Finland ...

, where a year later it formed the cornerstone of the newly founded Imperial Public Library. In the 1920s the government of the

Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic The Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic (Russian SFSR or RSFSR), previously known as the Russian Socialist Federative Soviet Republic and the Russian Soviet Republic, and unofficially as Soviet Russia,Declaration of Rights of the labo ...

returned some of the former Załuski Library holdings to the recently established

Second Polish Republic The Second Polish Republic, at the time officially known as the Republic of Poland, was a country in Central and Eastern Europe that existed between 7 October 1918 and 6 October 1939. The state was established in the final stage of World War I ...

following the

Treaty of Riga The Treaty of Riga was signed in Riga, Latvia, on between Poland on one side and Soviet Russia (acting also on behalf of Soviet Belarus) and Soviet Ukraine on the other, ending the Polish–Soviet War (1919–1921). The chief negotiators of ...

, and they were later included in the

National Library A national library is a library established by a government as a country's preeminent repository of information. Unlike public library, public libraries, these rarely allow citizens to borrow books. Often, they include numerous rare, valuable, ...

(''Biblioteka Narodowa''), founded in 1928 (hence, the latter considers itself the continuation of the Załuski Library). The majority of the original Załuski collection was, however, deliberately destroyed by the

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany, the country of the Germans and German things **Germania (Roman era) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizenship in Germany, see also Ge ...

troops during the planned destruction of Warsaw in October 1944, following the collapse of the

Warsaw Uprising The Warsaw Uprising (; ), sometimes referred to as the August Uprising (), or the Battle of Warsaw, was a major World War II operation by the Polish resistance movement in World War II, Polish underground resistance to liberate Warsaw from ...

History

Creation

The Załuski brothers' greatest passion was

book collecting Book collecting is the collecting of books, including seeking, locating, acquiring, organizing, cataloging, displaying, storing, and maintaining whatever books are of interest to a given collector. The love of books is ''bibliophilia'', and someo ...

, including collecting historical

manuscript A manuscript (abbreviated MS for singular and MSS for plural) was, traditionally, any document written by hand or typewritten, as opposed to mechanically printed or reproduced in some indirect or automated way. More recently, the term has ...

s and

incunabula An incunable or incunabulum (: incunables or incunabula, respectively) is a book, pamphlet, or broadside (printing), broadside that was printed in the earliest stages of printing in Europe, up to the year 1500. The specific date is essentiall ...

. Józef Andrzej Załuski and his brother

acquired the collections of earlier Polish bibliophiles such as Jakub Zadzik, Krzysztof Opaliński, Tomasz Ujejski, Janusz Wiśniowiecki, Jerzy Mniszech and Jan III Sobieski (the latter, from his granddaughter, Maria Karolina Sobieska). Beginning from the 1730s the brothers planned the creation of a

Operation

The Załuski Library was considered the first Polish

and one of the largest libraries in the contemporary world. In all of Europe there were only two or three libraries that could boast such holdings. The library initially held some 200,000 items, which grew to some 400,000 printed items,

map A map is a symbolic depiction of interrelationships, commonly spatial, between things within a space. A map may be annotated with text and graphics. Like any graphic, a map may be fixed to paper or other durable media, or may be displayed on ...

s and

s 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. The library initially lended out its collection items, but soon reversed this policy by prohibiting to take the books outside the library, as the book theft became a growing problem, to an extent that the bishop patrons decided to ask the

pope The pope is the bishop of Rome and the Head of the Church#Catholic Church, visible head of the worldwide Catholic Church. He is also known as the supreme pontiff, Roman pontiff, or sovereign pontiff. From the 8th century until 1870, the po ...

for help. Responding to their request, in 1752 pope Benedict XIV issued a

papal bull A papal bull is a type of public decree, letters patent, or charter issued by the pope of the Catholic Church. It is named after the leaden Seal (emblem), seal (''bulla (seal), bulla'') traditionally appended to authenticate it. History Papal ...

that threatened to

excommunication Excommunication is an institutional act of religious censure used to deprive, suspend, or limit membership in a religious community or to restrict certain rights within it, in particular those of being in Koinonia, communion with other members o ...

individuals taking the books from this library; even that did not eliminate the problem completely. Exlibris Zaluski

After the brothers' deaths, the newly formed Commission for National Education took charge of the library, renaming it the Załuski Library of the Republic.

Looting and destruction

Twenty years later in 1794, in the aftermath of the

second Partition of Poland The 1793 Second Partition of Poland was the second of partitions of Poland, three partitions (or partial annexations) that ended the existence of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth by 1795. The second partition (politics), partition occurred i ...

and

, Russian troops, on orders from Russian Czarina

, emptied the library and dispatched the whole collection to

. The looted books formed the foundations of the Imperial Public Library on its formation a year later; meanwhile, its looted Polish predecessor was abolished and destined by the victorious three powers to be sent into oblivion along with its owner, the Polish state itself. 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. According to the historian Joachim Lelewel, the books from the Zaluskis' collection "could be bought at

Grodno Grodno, or Hrodna, is a city in western Belarus. It is one of the oldest cities in Belarus. The city is located on the Neman, Neman River, from Minsk, about from the Belarus–Poland border, border with Poland, and from the Belarus–Lithua ...

by the basket". The collection was later dispersed among several Russian libraries.

Successor

Some parts of the Zaluski collection returned to

Congress Poland Congress Poland or Congress Kingdom of Poland, formally known as the Kingdom of Poland, was a polity created in 1815 by the Congress of Vienna as a semi-autonomous Polish state, a successor to Napoleon's Duchy of Warsaw. It was established w ...

on two separate dates in the nineteenth century: 1842 and 1863. In the 1920s, in the aftermath of the Polish-Soviet War and the

around 50,000 collection items were repatriated to Poland by the

RSFSR The Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic (Russian SFSR or RSFSR), previously known as the Russian Socialist Federative Soviet Republic and the Russian Soviet Republic, and unofficially as Soviet Russia,Declaration of Rights of the labo ...

's government. which served as the cornerstone of the

National Library of Poland The National Library (, ''BN'') is the national library of Poland, subject directly to the Polish Ministry of Culture and National Heritage. The main seat of the National Library is located in the Ochota district of Warsaw, adjacent to the Mo ...

re-established in 1928. The latter has therefore always regarded itself as the direct continuation of the Załuski Library with its service to be considered merely "interrupted" by the Partitioning Powers for 133 years, and has continued to officially state the year 1747 as its date of foundation, as well as to number and celebrate its anniversaries accordingly.

Repeated destruction

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, the

soldiers deliberately destroyed the collection (held in the Krasiński Library at the time) during the planned destruction of Warsaw in October 1944, after collapse of the Warsaw Uprising. Only 1800 manuscripts and 30,000 printed materials from the original library survived the war.

Present times

After the war, some of the items were successfully recovered and returned to the

, the successor to the Załuski Library. In 2023, George Windsor, Earl of St Andrews, a member of the

British Royal Family The British royal family comprises Charles III and other members of his family. There is no strict legal or formal definition of who is or is not a member, although the Royal Household has issued different lists outlining who is considere ...

, personally handed over the 1523 ''L'histoire de Primaleon de Grece'' by Francisco Vázquez after he realized the provenance of this book in his collections.

Building

For the purpose of establishing the library, the brothers acquired the 17th-century Daniłowicz Palace in

, originally built for Mikołaj Daniłowicz of Żurów and ruined during the Swedish Deluge. The building's reconstruction in

rococo Rococo, less commonly Roccoco ( , ; or ), also known as Late Baroque, is an exceptionally ornamental and dramatic style of architecture, art and decoration which combines asymmetry, scrolling curves, gilding, white and pastel colours, sculpte ...

style was accomplished by Francesco Antonio Melana and his brother in 1745, 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 An observatory is a location used for observing terrestrial, marine, or celestial events. Astronomy, climatology/meteorology, geophysics, oceanography and volcanology are examples of disciplines for which observatories have been constructed. Th ...

. Following the library's looting and closure, its original seat was used for flour storage after 1807, and was subsequently altered into a tenement house in 1821. The building was destroyed by the Germans during

. After the war, the original building was rebuilt under the

Polish People's Republic The Polish People's Republic (1952–1989), formerly the Republic of Poland (1947–1952), and also often simply known as Poland, was a country in Central Europe that existed as the predecessor of the modern-day democratic Republic of Poland. ...

. 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 The Partitions of Poland were three partition (politics), partitions of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth that took place between 1772 and 1795, toward the end of the 18th century. They ended the existence of the state, resulting in the eli ...

, 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''). It has thereafter served as the headquarters of the Society of Authors ZAiKS.

Gallery

File:Vogel Załuski Library.jpg, Załuski Library under construction, by Zygmunt Vogel File:Zniszczony Dom pod Królami.png, "House of the Kings" deliberately destroyed by the Germans in World War II File:DPK1 DSC0038.JPG, "House of the Kings" today (''ul. Daniłowiczowska 14'', corner of ''ul. Hipoteczna 2'',

)

Notes

References

* Jan Kozłowski
''Szkice o dziejach Biblioteki Załuskich.''
Publisher: ''Zakład Narodowy Imienia Ossolińskich'',

Polish Academy of Sciences The Polish Academy of Sciences (, PAN) is a Polish state-sponsored institution of higher learning. Headquartered in Warsaw, it is responsible for spearheading the development of science across the country by a society of distinguished scholars a ...

, Retrieved 23 October 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
The Strange Life of One of the Greatest European Libraries of the Eighteenth Century: the Zaluski Collection in Warsaw

In the House under the Sign of the Kings {{DEFAULTSORT:Zaluski Library 1740s establishments in the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth 1747 establishments in Europe Buildings and structures completed in 1795 Rococo architecture in Warsaw Libraries in Warsaw

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It extends from the Baltic Sea in the north to the Sudetes and Carpathian Mountains in the south, bordered by Lithuania and Russia to the northeast, Belarus and Ukrai ...

World War II sites in Warsaw Destroyed libraries Buildings and structures in Poland destroyed during World War II Art and cultural repatriation after World War II Warsaw Uprising Germany–Poland relations Poland–Russia relations Deposit libraries Rebuilt buildings and structures in Warsaw Libraries established in 1747 Book burnings Buildings and structures demolished in 1944 National Library of Poland