THE REV. JAN WŁADZIŃSKI
UNIVERSITY MUSEUM

Director: The Rev. Prof. Dr. Hab. Ryszard Knapiński

The KUL University Museum is both one of the few as well as one of the most interesting university art collections in Poland. Established by decision of the University Senate on September 30, 1932, the basis of the collection was built upon a private collection of 4,758 objects belonging to the Rev. Jana Władziński (1861-1935), a Lublin Canon. The collection was typical for the turn of the 19^th/20^th centuries: it was made up of a collection of antiquities and of national souvenirs that included paintings and graphics, crafts work (including a rich collection of liturgical objects) and coins. The entire collection was dispersed during the Second World War. Since the end of the 1940s, a systematic effort was made to rebuild a collection of museum artifacts, which allowed the institution to reopen in October 1958 as the Rev. Canon Jana Władziński University Museum.

At present the KUL University Museum holdings include a superior collection of exhibition pieces representing Gothic and Baroque sculpture; Polish and European painting from the 17^th to 20^th centuries; artistic craftsmanship (e.g., liturgical vestments and instruments from the 17^th to 20^th centuries); folk sculpture; and works of contemporary art.

The Museum’s holdings are enriched by two distinct collections: the Olga and Tadeusz Litawiński Collection and the collection of the distinguished Polish architect, Tadeusz Witkowski. These collections include interesting examples of Polish painting and graphics from the eighteenth to twentieth centuries, including the works of Leon Wyczółkowski, Józef Chełmoński, Jacek Malczewski, Jan Matejko, Stanisław Noakowski, Włodzimierz Tetmajer, Władysław Skoczylas, Mieczysław Jakimowicz, and Piotr Michałowski. They also include examples of Polish and European craftsmanship in porcelain, faience, and bisque, dating from the first half of the eighteenth through the twentieth centuries and representing such centers as Meissen, Berlin, Vienna, Frankenthal, Ludwigsburg, Sèvres and Naples; Russian works; and works from Polish centers like Korzec, Baranówek, Ćmielów and Chodzież; glass from the second half of the 18^th to 20^th centuries from the Czech lands, Germany, Lower Silesia, Poland, France, Italy and England; and works in silver and bronze from the 19^th and 20^th centuries. In addition to being a center for exhibits, the KUL University Museum functions as a teaching and research area, where scholars from the Art History Section of the Humanities Faculty can conduct practical training in conservation, protection and museological research with art history students.