[PODHORCE] Inventory of the movables of the Podhorce Castle, together with a handwritten card catalog, compiled by Julia and Rudolf Mękicki in 1939. Collection of documents, correspondence, photographs, ephemeral prints related to the restoration of objec

[PODHORCE] Inventory of the movables of Podhorce Castle, together with a handwritten card catalog, compiled by Julia and Rudolf Mękicki in 1939. Collection of documents, correspondence, photographs, ephemeral prints related to the restoration of objects in Podhorce Castle (1933) and the activity of Julia and Rudolf Mękicki in Podhorce until 1939. Post-war fate of the Castle (documents), correspondence with Prince Sanguszko.

Podhorce Castle (Podhorce, Lviv region, Brody region, Ukraine) - a castle built on the orders of Hetman Stanislaw Koniecpolski in 1635-1640 with a palace-like character (so-called palazzo in fortezza), located in the Voronok range, on the edge of the northern slope of the plateau. Over the centuries the palace changed owners: from the hands of the Koniecpolskis it passed to the sons of King Jan III Sobieski, then Stanislaw Mateusz Rzewuski, Leon Rzewuski, while the latter, having no descendants, sold the castle to Prince Eustachy Stanislaw Sanguszko in 1865, entrusting the palace with the monuments collected in it to his care.

The last owner of Podhorce Castle was Roman Wladyslaw Sanguszko (1901-1984), born in Gumniska, who took care of the Castle and the collection until the outbreak of war in 1939. During the turmoil of the World War I period, under the supervision of Konstancja née Zamoyska Sanguszko (1864-1946), the wife of Eustachy Stanislaw Sanguszko (1842-1930) and Roman's mother, part of the collection was transported to Slavutta and Gumniska. In turn, in 1919, part of the antiquities were taken away by Lieutenant Morelowski and soldiers of the 5th Legion Regiment, placing them in the National Museum in Cracow; while in 1920, just before the Soviet invasion, Tadeusz Szydlowski deposited more than 3,000 objects at Wawel .

In 1933, Prince Roman Sanguszko decided to join the celebrations of the 250th anniversary of the Battle of Vienna and organize celebrations and shows on the grounds of Podhorce Castle, as well as open part of the chambers to the public. In order to achieve this goal, it was necessary to transport the deported collections from Gumniska back to Podhorce, and to hire a person responsible for preparing the objects for the exhibition, their conservation and curatorial arrangement in the halls. Rudolf Mękicki, a prominent Lviv curator, designer, and collector, was appointed to this task on the recommendation of Aleksander Czolowski (then director of the Jan III Sobieski National Museum in Lviv). The work on the exhibition took place under tremendous time pressure, related to the number of objects to be conserved, their arrangement, as well as delays in the delivery of antiquities from Gumniska, evidence of which we have in the form of Mękicki's correspondence with A. Czolowski or in the exceptions of Julia Mękicki's unpublished "Diary."

Jan Ostrowski describes the scope of the custodian's work as follows:

"Recreating the state of the interiors before World War I was already impossible at that time. Most of the rooms had lost the upholstery of the walls, a significant part of the paintings were missing, destroyed, lost and left in Gumniska. Operating with the material they had at their disposal, the Mękicki family tried to arrange the paintings in accordance with the principles of modern museum display, taking into account their subject matter and stylistic character.Thus, for example, the main accents of the Table (Knights') room became three large 17th-century historical canvases (the above-mentioned scene with the Shuisky tsars before Sigismund III and two episodes from the history of Stanisław Koniecpolski, coming from the ceiling of the same room), and the chapel was decorated with religious paintings. The method of deployment is documented in Rudolf Mękicki's drawings from 1933" .

In addition to arranging the objects and preparing the exhibition in 1933, Rudolf Mękicki was also in charge of cleaning and restoring the objects, taking care of the appropriate exhibition conditions (racks for hussar armor, entrusting the furniture for restoration). Evidence of this work can be found, among other things, in the preserved blurb of Rudolf Mękicki's letter to A. Czolowski from August 1933.

It is worth adding that Prince Roman Sanguszko greatly appreciated the work of the Mękicki couple, of which numerous testimonies can be found in the correspondence included in the offer and in the memoirs of Julia Mękicki. In a way, proof of this was the commissioning of further inventory work, aimed at drawing up an accurate scientific inventory of all movable monuments, located in the Podhorce Castle. The culmination of these activities was the development of a complete card inventory by the end of August 1939, together with a typewritten copy , drawn up in 4 pieces, two of which remained in the possession of the Mancicki family even after the war.

The materials on offer shed new light on the work the Mękicki family carried out in Podhorce in July and August 1933, mainly through previously unknown documents (letters from A. Czolowski to R. Mękicki; a diary of the Mękicki family's expenses in Podhorce in 1933; and Julia Mękicki's notes in typescript form). Some of these materials have never been published.

The fate of Podhorce Castle after the disaster of September 1939 was, unfortunately, tragic. As J. Ostrowski writes: "In September 1939, the last owner of Podhorce, Prince Roman Sanguszko evacuated the most valuable mementos from Gumniska and Podhorce. A convoy consisting of trucks of the Gumniska brewery at the last moment managed to get to Romania, and then, after traveling across Europe, all the way to Brazil. The Merciful Samaritan by Jordaens and the portrait of Prince James Louis Sobieski now belong to the Sanguszko Foundation in Sao Paulo" .

The Palace that was left behind went through successive Soviet, German and again Soviet occupations. In the meantime, the palace collection was looted and destroyed (the Hetman tents were cut into curtains, while some of the paintings were cut into decorations), which ended with the inclusion of the collection primarily in the collection of the Lviv Historical Museum in 1946.

The presented collection includes documents, photographs and archives related to Podhorce Castle and its last owner, Roman Wladyslaw Sanguszko, covering objects from the early 20th century until the late 1980s. Below is a breakdown of the objects in each portfolio (originally arranged by the current owner of the collection).

The archives and objects were placed by the current owner in several folders, numbered from 1 to 7. Inventory cards and a bound typescript with the inventory were placed in an additional separate box.

Objects of undoubtedly unique value are a copy of the "Inventory" in typescript form, bound in navy blue linen, and an original, almost complete manuscript file of the collection, written down by Rudolf and Julia Mękicki. Preparatory work on the inventory probably lasted from 1933-1939, while according to Julia Mękicki's "Note", the inventory of historical objects itself was created in 1939 during the summer holidays.

Thanks to the inventory of historical objects prepared by the Mękicki family, we can learn what was the state of possession of Podhorce Castle just before the outbreak of World War II in September 1939.

Julia Mękicka states in an exception from her "Memoirs" (included in the offer) that 4 pieces of typescript were created, including 2 which the Mękickis took with them. One of them Julia Mękicka sold in the 1970s to the Center for Historic Preservation, while the other - now offered - remained in the collection. As Meczicka writes: "[...] we decided to draw up an accurate inventory of the castle collection, professionally prepared in museum style, it was typed in 1939. in four pieces. One piece was given to Podhorce by Mr. Brzozowski, another to Gumniska, the third piece I gave to the Center for the Protection of Antiquities in Warsaw, and the fourth piece is with me" .

The collection consists of the following objects and volumes:

1. a handwritten card inventory compiled by Julia and Rudolf Mękicki in 1939. The cards show descriptions of 795 historical objects (about 5 k. missing) and were used as base material for the creation of the inventory.

Manuscripts on thicker paper, dimensions 14.4 x 10.3 cm each card. The inventory card with the painting "Amphitrite, oil painting" is missing; as well as No. 152 (in the arms section) and the final 2 - a total of 4 to 5 inv cards. The inventory cards have been checked and compared with the typescript inventory, while minor omissions are possible.

The collection includes several hundred inventory cards for 791 objects (some of the inventory descriptions, such as armaments, are on several cards), prepared by hand by Julia and Rudolf Mękicki.

Polish and foreign PORTRETS. B/OBRAZYS. polish historical scenes

Cards 1-125 (according to the inventory in the typescript). Note - card numbers do not coincide with the final numbering, included in the inventory. Descriptions, dating, location in the castle/room.

Cards: 126 - 209. PAINTINGS. Religious and biblical content by SZYMON CZECHOWICZ (1689-1775).

Descriptions, dating, location in the castle/sala. Numbering according to the inventory.

Sheets: 210 - 278. PAINTINGS OF RELIGIOUS CONTENT

Descriptions, dating, location in the castle/halls. Numbering according to the inventory.

Cards: 279 - 398. paintings of miscellaneous content (mythological, etc.).

Descriptions, dating, location in castle/sale. Numbering according to the inventory. Missing k. no. 282: Amphitrite. Oil on canvas. Damaged. / Casemates, servants' room / [description after Inventory].

Tabs: 1 - 48. ARMAMENT

Descriptions, dating. Numbering according to the inventory. Cards in paper dustjacket with handwritten annotation by Rudolf Mękicki: "Armaments.

CAMP WEAPONS AND EQUIPMENT

Cards: 49 - 145 (146). Descriptions. Dating, location in the castle/shelter. Numbering according to the inventory. Cards in paper dustjacket with handwritten annotation by Rudolf Mękicki: "Arms".

TENTS

Cards: 146 - 151. descriptions, dating, location in castle/sale. Numbering according to the inventory. Cards in paper dustjacket with handwritten annotation by Rudolf Mękicki: "Tents".

Additionally: Dirty copies of inventory cards, on thin paper (Nos. 228, 229, 230, 303, 304).

FURNITURE AND EQUIPMENT. Descriptions, dating, location in the castle/room. Numbering according to the inventory. Missing Nos. 152 (table from the time of Louis XV), 396/397 (Hussar Copies, similar to under l. 83-122).

2. Masinopis (one of 4 copies) with Inventory of monuments from 1939. [Podhorce 1939]

Typescript on paper. S. 137 (one-sided inscribed, unnumbered). Height 32.5 cm. Period cloth binding. Ex-libris. On the face of the binding, description in crayon: "Rudolf and Julia Mękicki | Inventory of the Podhorce Castle | Podhorce 1939".

The inventory contains a description of 795 antiquities, including 398 paintings and 397 items of arms, furniture and equipment. The inventory includes information on dimensions, an indication of the state of preservation, conservation treatments performed, the type and dating of the objects' frames (unlike the earlier known Podhorce inventories), as well as the Hall in which the objects were displayed.

3. folder No. 1, containing: photographs of the Podhorce Castle (mostly post-war) and manuscript and typewritten exceptions from works and studies devoted to the Castle. A total of 45 items.

4. folder No. 2, containing: documents related to the works of Julia and Rudolf Mancicki in Podhorce in 1933; correspondence, pamphlet prints related to Prince Roman Wladyslaw Sanguszko and his family in Sao Paolo; correspondence related to the Podhorce archive in the collection of Julia Mancicki [Juliusz Ross, Zbigniew Bania, Wawel State Art Collections]; Varia. Total of 34 items.

5. folder No. 3, containing: correspondence of Aleksander Czolowski (1865-1944) to Rudolf Mękicki; documents related to the work of Julia and Rudolf Mękicki in Podhorce. Leaflet prints and photographs related to Roman Wladyslaw Sanguszko and the Sanguszko Estate in Podhorce; correspondence from employees of the Estate of Prince Sanguszko in Podhorce, 1930s to 1970s; correspondence and documents of Julia Mękicki related to her collection of archival items concerning Podhorce Castle and their partial sale. A total of 39 items.

6. folder No. 4, containing: Inventory cards from an unknown inventory of Podhorce Castle. [n. d. probably not before 1916]; Photographs (1930s to 1970s) and postcards related to the Castle and the Podhorce Chapel. A total of 91 items.

7. File No. 5, containing: 1 lithograph by Napoleon Orda ("Podhorce") and 4 woodcuts colored in watercolor from 19th century magazines. A total of 5 items.

8. folder No. 6, containing: Documents, photographs, manuscripts related to the activities of Rudolf and Julia Mękicki in Podhorce; Documents and arch. projections relating to the construction of the Mękicki estate in the vicinity of. Podhorzets, as well as the construction of a rest house for Polish museum workers and their families. Varia. Total of 19 items.

9. folder No. 7, containing: Further documentation of the Podhorce collection (including loose inventory cards); Postcards and telegrams from Constance Sanguszko and Roman Sanguszko (1930s); A set of letters from Roman Sanguszko from Sao Paolo and photographs of the Prince and his family; Roman Sanguszko's epitaph from 1984. A total of 20 items.

Upon request, we can send the full documentation in PDF with a list of documents and additional iconography