The Polish National Library has purchased a collection of Polish literature for 55 million złoty (€12.9 million), well below its estimated value of €117 million.
The library bought out the deposit given to it by a member of the Zamoyski family, one of Poland’s most important aristocratic families. Jan Tomasz Zamoyski deposited the unique collection in the National Library after World War II.
Talks with the family lasted several years and a deal was concluded in the spring of this year but kept under wraps until now.
Dr. Tomasz Makowski, director of the National Library, told Polish newspaper Rzeczpospolita that the institution received a proposal from Jan Zamoyski's heirs to purchase the Zamoyski Estate Library.
Talks with the family lasted several years and a deal was concluded in the spring of this year but kept under wraps until now.
Why the relatively low fee?
Dr. Tomasz Makowski, director of the National Library, told Polish newspaper Rzeczpospolita that the institution received a proposal from Jan Zamoyski's heirs to purchase the Zamoyski Estate Library.
“[A fee of] 55 million złoty was negotiated, significantly reducing the initial amount. The National Library, in its concern to preserve the most valuable Polish historical collection in public collections... considers this proposal to be justified and beneficial,” Makowski said.
If the library had failed to make the purchase, he added, the books could have been put up for sale.
Makowski explained that neither the National Library nor state authorities would have been able to prevent this from happening because Jan Zamoyski formally transferred the Zamoyski Estate Library to the National Library in 1948 and it was obliged to release it to his heirs.
“The loss of each of the Zamoyski Estate Library’s items would be irreparable for Polish history and culture,” he said.
“The written monuments, alongside those from the treasury at Wawel, are among the most important symbols of Polish identity, and the Zamoyski Family Library itself was one of the few secret institutes of Polish history during the partitions,” Makowski said.
If the library had failed to make the purchase, he added, the books could have been put up for sale.
Makowski explained that neither the National Library nor state authorities would have been able to prevent this from happening because Jan Zamoyski formally transferred the Zamoyski Estate Library to the National Library in 1948 and it was obliged to release it to his heirs.
“The loss of each of the Zamoyski Estate Library’s items would be irreparable for Polish history and culture,” he said.
“The written monuments, alongside those from the treasury at Wawel, are among the most important symbols of Polish identity, and the Zamoyski Family Library itself was one of the few secret institutes of Polish history during the partitions,” Makowski said.
The literature
The literature includes a manuscript of the Chronicle of Gallus Anonymus (the oldest known medieval chronicle documenting the history of Poland) from the 14th century and the only existing manuscript by Jan Kochanowski, a Polish Renaissance poet who established poetic patterns that would become integral to Polish literary language.
Kochanowski also published the poems Dryas Zamchana in 1578 in Lviv, which is now western Ukraine.
The collection also includes an illuminated manuscript of the Catalog of the Archbishops of Gniezno by Jan Długosz and illustrated by Renaissance painter Stanisław Samostrzelnik, which contains biographies of successive archbishops of Gniezno.
Amongst the literary treasures is a collection of 4,000 documents from the chancellery of King Sigismund I the Old (1467-1548), including the only letters in Poland from Erasmus of Rotterdam, known as the Górski Files, which have been inscribed on the UNESCO Memory of the World Register.
Kochanowski also published the poems Dryas Zamchana in 1578 in Lviv, which is now western Ukraine.
The collection also includes an illuminated manuscript of the Catalog of the Archbishops of Gniezno by Jan Długosz and illustrated by Renaissance painter Stanisław Samostrzelnik, which contains biographies of successive archbishops of Gniezno.
Amongst the literary treasures is a collection of 4,000 documents from the chancellery of King Sigismund I the Old (1467-1548), including the only letters in Poland from Erasmus of Rotterdam, known as the Górski Files, which have been inscribed on the UNESCO Memory of the World Register.
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