Biblioteka Raczynskich Poznan new 2012 (3)

The Raczyński Library (

Polish Polish may refer to: * Anything from or related to Poland, a country in Europe * Polish language * Poles Poles,, ; singular masculine: ''Polak'', singular feminine: ''Polka'' or Polish people, are a West Slavic nation and ethnic group, w ...

: ''Biblioteka Raczyńskich w Poznaniu'') is a public library founded by Count Edward Raczyński in

Poznań Poznań () is a city on the River Warta in west-central Poland, within the Greater Poland region. The city is an important cultural and business centre, and one of Poland's most populous regions with many regional customs such as Saint Joh ...

. The

library A library is a collection of materials, books or media that are accessible for use and not just for display purposes. A library provides physical (hard copies) or digital access (soft copies) materials, and may be a physical location or a vir ...

's building was erected in 1822–1828 with the financial support of Edward Raczyński Foundation. The structure of a classical building features a

colonnade In classical architecture, a colonnade is a long sequence of columns joined by their entablature, often free-standing, or part of a building. Paired or multiple pairs of columns are normally employed in a colonnade which can be straight or cur ...

reminiscent of the eastern

façade A façade () (also written facade) is generally the front part or exterior of a building. It is a loan word from the French (), which means ' frontage' or ' face'. In architecture, the façade of a building is often the most important aspect ...

of the

Louvre The Louvre ( ), or the Louvre Museum ( ), is the world's most-visited museum, and an historic landmark in Paris, France. It is the home of some of the best-known works of art, including the ''Mona Lisa'' and the ''Venus de Milo''. A central l ...

. In front of the main building of the library stands the

Hygieia Hygieia is a goddess from Greek, as well as Roman, mythology (also referred to as: Hygiea or Hygeia; ; grc, Ὑγιεία or , la, Hygēa or ). Hygieia is a goddess of health ( el, ὑγίεια – ''hugieia''), cleanliness and hygiene. Her ...

's Fountain statue created by Albert Wolff in 1841.

History

The

neoclassicist Neoclassicism (also spelled Neo-classicism) was a Western cultural movement in the decorative and visual arts, literature, theatre, music, and architecture that drew inspiration from the art and culture of classical antiquity. Neoclassicism was ...

building of the library is located at Liberty Square (''Plac Wolności''). During the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposi ...

the building was demolished with explosives by the Nazi German troops and nearly all of the library's books (90%) were destroyed in the resulting fire, except for the special collections looted earlier by

Nazi Germany Nazi Germany (lit. "National Socialist State"), ' (lit. "Nazi State") for short; also ' (lit. "National Socialist Germany") (officially known as the German Reich from 1933 until 1943, and the Greater German Reich from 1943 to 1945) was ...

. In 1953, the library was rebuilt according to the project by Janina Czarnecka. In 1994, the library was in possession of around 252,000 books. Between 2010 and 2013 a new wing of the library was constructed, which helped to better display the library's collections. It was officially opened on 1 July 2013 and covers the area of 11,000 square metres and was co-financed by

European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational political and economic union of member states that are located primarily in Europe. The union has a total area of and an estimated total population of about 447million. The EU has often been de ...

funds. The current director of the library is Anna Gruszecka. The library also exercises control over the museums of such writers as Henryk Sienkiewicz,

Kazimiera Iłłakowiczówna Kazimiera Iłłakowiczówna (6 August 1892 – 16 February 1983) was a Polish poet, prose writer, playwright and translator. She was one of the most acclaimed and celebrated poets during Poland's interwar period. Life and work She was born o ...

and

Józef Ignacy Kraszewski Józef Ignacy Kraszewski (28 July 1812 – 19 March 1887) was a Polish writer, publisher, historian, journalist, scholar, painter, and author who produced more than 200 novels and 150 novellas, short stories, and art reviews, which makes him the ...

Past directors

The directors of the library: * (1829-1852) Józef Łukaszewicz * (1852-1868) Antoni Popliński * (1868-1901) Maksymilian Sosnowski * (1902-1912) Oswald Collmann * (1913-1914) Wilhelm Christiani * (1916), (1918-1919) Adolf Kunkel * (1919-1928) Antoni Bederski * (1929-1939) Andrzej Wojtkowski * (1939-1941) Józef Raczyński * (1941-1945) Paul Sattler * (1945-1947) Józef Frieske * (1948) Halina Kurkówna * (1949-1953) Feliks Róg-Mazurek * (1954) Wacław Lica * (1955-1956) Leon Pawlak * (1957-1962) Bernard Olejniczak * (1964-1972) Helena Seidel * (1962-1963), (1972-1977), (1981-1997) Janusz Dembski * (1977-1981) Alfred Laboga * (1997-2014) Wojciech Spaleniak * (2014–present) Anna Gruszecka

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Raczynski Library In Poznan Buildings and structures in Poznań Public libraries in Poland Tourist attractions in Poznań Library buildings completed in 1828 1829 establishments

History

Past directors

See also

References

External links