Mieczysław Ludwik Potocki (1810, – 31 January 1878, Lviv) was Polish landowner, November insurgent, organizer of the conservation office in Eastern Galicia, member of the Galician States.

Biography

Mieczysław Ludwik Potocki was born in

Lviv Lviv ( or ; ; ; see #Names and symbols, below for other names) is the largest city in western Ukraine, as well as the List of cities in Ukraine, fifth-largest city in Ukraine, with a population of It serves as the administrative centre of ...

to an old, but not wealthy

Polish noble The ''szlachta'' (; ; ) were the nobility, noble estate of the realm in the Kingdom of Poland, the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, and the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth. Depending on the definition, they were either a warrior "caste" or a social ...

family originating from the

Bracław Voivodeship The Bracław Voivodeship (; ; , ''Braclavśke vojevodstvo'') was a unit of administrative division of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth. Created in 1566 as part of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, it was passed to the Crown of the Kingdom of Pola ...

. His father was Franciszek Xawery Potocki from Wieniawa, a state counsellor, president of the prosecutor's office of the

Congress Kingdom of 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 wh ...

, and a member of the Warsaw Society of Friends of Learning, while his mother was Marianna Czerwińska, a daughter of a of Nowogródek (now

Novogrudok Novogrudok or Navahrudak (; ; , ; ) is a town in Grodno Region, Belarus. It serves as the administrative center of Novogrudok District. As of 2025, it has a population of 27,624. In the Middle Ages, the city was ruled by King Mindaugas' son V ...

). He studied law and administration at the Royal University of Warsaw. He participated in the

November Uprising The November Uprising (1830–31) (), also known as the Polish–Russian War 1830–31 or the Cadet Revolution, was an armed rebellion in Russian Partition, the heartland of Partitions of Poland, partitioned Poland against the Russian Empire. ...

(he was awarded the Order of Virtuti Militari). After his stay abroad, he settled in his estate in the village of Kotsiubynchyky. An important event for his scientific interests was the discovery in 1848 of a statue of

Zbruch Idol The Zbruch Idol, Sviatovid (''Worldseer'', ; ) is a 9th-century limestone sculpture idol, and one of the few monuments of pre-Christian Slavic beliefs (according to another interpretation, it was created by the Kipchaks/Cumans). The pillar was ...

in the Zbrucz River in the village of

Lychkivtsi Lychkivtsi () is a village in Husiatyn settlement hromada, Chortkiv Raion, Ternopil Oblast, Ukraine. History The first written mention is from 1427. In 1848, the Zbruch Idol was found on the right bank of the Zbruch, near Lychkivtsi.Олег С� ...

. It was soon excavated, but lay for some time in oblivion until Potocki took an interest in it, to whom it was offered by the then owner of Lychkivtsi. When a proclamation from the Kraków Scientific Society, calling for archaeological research and the donation of antiquities to its collection, reached him in 1850, Potocki sent information about the find to the Society, which responded with a request to donate the statue. Potocki agreed and on May 12, 1851, the statue was transported to Kraków, where it was placed in the

Collegium Maius A (: ) or college was any association in ancient Rome that acted as a legal entity. Such associations could be civil or religious. The word literally means "society", from ("colleague"). They functioned as social clubs or religious collectiv ...

. He was buried in

Lychakiv Cemetery Lychakiv Cemetery (; ), officially State History and Culture Museum-Reserve "Lychakiv Cemetery" (), is a historic cemetery in Lviv, Ukraine. History Since its creation in 1787 as Łyczakowski Cemetery, it has been the main necropolis of the c ...

.Bogumiła Sawa-Sroczyńska (1981), p. 164

References

Bibliography

* Bogumiła Sawa-Sroczyńska. ''Mieczysław Ludwik Potocki – konserwator zabytków Galicji i historyk Zamościa''. „Ochrona Zabytków”. 34/3–4 (134–135) pp. 161–166, 1981. * Jerzy Sewer Dunin Borkowski
Rocznik Szlachty Polskiej. T. 1
Lwów: Nakładem księgarni K. Łukaszewicza, 1881, s. 533–534. * Jerzy Sewer Dunin Borkowski
Rocznik Szlachty Polskiej
T. 2. Lwów: Nakładem księgarni K. Łukaszewicza, 1883, s. 619. * Tadeusz Łopatkiewicz,
Najwcześniejsze relacje konserwatorskie o zabytkach Krosna i powiatu oraz ich autor Ludwik Mieczysław Lubicz Potocki (1810–1878)
', Bibliotheca Pigoniana, t. 7, Krosno 2022, ss. 385, {{DEFAULTSORT:Potocki, Mieczysław Ludwik 1810 births 1878 deaths People from Lviv University of Warsaw alumni November Uprising participants Potocki family Burials at Lychakiv Cemetery