Józef Maksymilian Ossoliński

He was born in Wola Mielecka, near Sandomierz. His father, Michał Ossoliński was castellan of Czchów and owner of the estates at Mielec, Zgórsk, Cyranka, Piątkowiec, Wola Mielecka, Partyn, Izbiska. His mother was Anna Szaniawska. He had a strict upbringing as befitted a young nobleman of the day. Józef was regarded as deeply religious, modest and shy.

From 1762 to 1771 he attended the highly rated Jesuit Collegium Nobilium in Warsaw. He was taught there by distinguished professors, Adam Naruszewicz, poet, historian and editor, Karol Wyrwicz, geographer, historian and educationalist, Franciszek Bohomolec, author of many ruthless satires about the excesses of the nobility and by I. Nagurczewski and J. Albertrandi. All these men belonged to the intellectual circle of the last king of Poland, Stanisław August Poniatowski.[1]

Following the First Partition of Poland in 1772 which "sanctioned" a land grab by the Habsburg Monarchy, the Ossoliński estates found themselves in the Kingdom of Galicia and Lodomeria. Apart from administering the family estates and the occasional trips to Warsaw, Jozef gave himself over to literary pursuits. The Austrians soon awarded him the title of Count. In 1785 he married a relative, Countess Teresa Jabłonowska. The marriage was childless and came to an end in 1791.

Between 1789 and 1793 he sat on a committee reviewing the administrative constitution of Galicia to little effect. At the same time he was head of a delegation (1790-1793) to Leopold II, Margrave of Austria. In 1792 He travelled around Central Europe, taking in: Saxony, Bavaria, Austria, Czech lands and Moravia. In 1793 he spent some time in Vienna where he frequented Austrian minister, Thugut, which enabled him to be an intermediary between the Austrian government and members of the Kosciuszko Insurrection (1794). At that time he supported a patriotic Polish daily newspaper in Lwów, "Dziennik Patriotycznych Polaków" (1792-1798), and lobbied on behalf of imprisoned Polish activists who numbered Hugo Kołłątaj among them.[1]

After the Third Partition of Poland (1795) the occupying powers intensified their policies of germanisation and russification closing down native educational establishments, cultural centres and introducing the invader's language into all administrative matters. The greatest loss for Polish culture were the wholesale deportations to Russia of magnificent Polish cultural collections such as the Załuski Library. In the circumstances a number of leading lights in Poland determined to create a national library collection. They included Adam K. Czartoryski of Puławy, Tadeusz Czacki of Krzemieniec and Józef Maksymilian Ossoliński.[1]

Miniature portrait of Samuel Bogumił Linde

To this end from 1794 Ossoliňski hired the services of the German, intellectual and bibliographer, Samuel Linde.[3] In the years he spent with Ossoliński he gathered sufficient material for a Polish lexicon, for which he consulted widely in Polish and Slav sources in the count's own collection and benefitted from his mentoring. As a result Linde's fame prospered so that in 1804 he was appointed headmaster of the Warsaw Lyceum.

From 1795 Ossoliński settled permanently in Vienna where he devoted himself to research and his passion for books. In that period he began collecting materials on a grand scale for his projected national cultural foundation. In 1808 he was nominated as clandestine consultant to the Austrian court and the following year he became prefect of the Imperial Library, which he successfully defended from looting by Napoleon's invading army. He spent 15 years (1808-1823) as curator of the Galician Economic Institute. He was granted the distinction of Royal Marshall by Emperor Francis I of Austria and honoured with the Order of St Stephen of Hungary and Court Bursar of the Kingdom of Galicia and Lodomeria.[1]

From 1800 he was a member of the Society of Friends of Science in Warsaw, the Warsaw Scientific Society, the Wilno Academy, the Kraków Academy, the Royal Societies in Prague and Göttingen, the Imperial Royal Society in Vienna, the University of Vilna and the Moravian-Silesian Agricultural Society. The University of Lwow gave him an Honorary doctorate in philosophy in 1820.[1]

The Ossolineum Library converted by Józef Bem from the former church of St Agnes

Ossoliński acquired the former Carmelite convent and church in Lwow along with the ruin that was St Agnes' church. A few months later he persuaded Emperor Francis to issue him with a statute for his foundation 8 May 1817. The principal provider of books to Ossoliński was the Lwow bookseller, Karol Wild.[4]

In his highly complicated act of foundation, Ossoliński laid down the staffing and financial arrangements and made express provision for the publication of a newsletter to report on the scientific progress of the institute. In 1823 Ossoliński agreed with prince Henryk Lubomirski that he should donate his collections to the new library, but as a distinct museum collection.[1][5]

In 1820 his health failed badly and in 1823 he lost his sight. He died after a long illness in Vienna in March 1826. His grave has disappeared as it was in the part of the Matzleinsdorf Protestant Cemetery that was given up for road building.

In 1826 the Galician assembly entrusted Gwalbert Pawlikowski, secretary to the Vienna court, with the task of adopting and cataloguing of Ossoliński's collections in Vienna which he achieved in 10 months and despatched to Lwow. The 52 enormous crates contained 10, 121 works in 19, 055 volumes, plus various journals 567 manuscripts 133 maps and 1445 etchings.[1]

• Knight Commander of the Order of Saint Stephen of Hungary

• Jabłońska, Władysława. (1979) "Ossoliński Józef Kajetan (1748-1826)" Polski słownik biograficzny. Wrocław: Polska Akademia Nauk. p. 416-421. (in Polish)