O Zygmuncie Glogerze, jego pasji zbierania zabytków i dziejach kolekcji archeologicznej

Abstract

Zygmunt Gloger was under a great influence of the atmosphere of his family home and the spirit of patriotism, which strengthened his conviction that by gathering relics and national memorabilia, he would best serve his native country. He treated his passion for collecting as a mission. During his lifetime, he had managed to gather numerous works of art, pieces of furniture, militaria, craftworks, rare books, old coins and medals, and ethnographic objects. He found a lot of archaeological artifacts during his own field excavations. He would also buy old items, bater them, or receive new ones as donations. Among the most representative from his collection are stone and flintstone artifacts from the dune sites and the pottery from hillforts of Podlasie, which he catalogued. He also carried out meticulously documented excavations in Horodnica, Volhynian and in Marienhaus, Latvia. Gloger’s collection was one of the greatest in the Russian partition. Yet, he was not very enthusiastic about the idea of setting up a museum of archeology there, remembering all too well how may relics were appropriated by the Russians after the fiasco of the January Uprising. He thought it would be better to create such an institution in Cracow because of Galicia’s relative autonomy. In 1910, after Gloger’s death, the collection was donated to various intuitions, as was specified in his last will. The ethnographic and archeological parts were taken by the Museum of Industry and Agriculture in Warsaw. However, it soon turned out that there existed Gloger’s another testament dated 1879, according to which the archeological relics were to be donated to the Academy of Learning in Cracow. As a result of legal settlements, the collection was divided.