The album comes from the collection of Rudolf Mękicki (1887-1942), a prominent art historian, designer, medalist, and curator of the Jan III Sobieski Museum in Lviv. According to family information, Meczicki received photographs as gifts from Lviv photographers, such as PP. Hubers and Janina Mierzecka (for whom he designed a graphic sign). In addition, one of the photographs has the stamp (on the back) of Rudolf's son, Juliusz Mękicki.
The album has 33 photographs, including works by such artist-photographers as:
- Zofia and Rudolf Huber (signed 5 pieces and unsigned?)
- Ludwik Wieleżyński (signed 2 pieces and 5 not signed).
- Janina Mierzecka (signed 1 piece, unsigned 1 piece?)
- Marek Münz (1 unsigned photograph with a view of tenement houses on the main square, reproduced in Światowid: illustrated weekly courier, 11-11-1934, no. 46, p. 12).
Among the places or monuments depicted are:
- panorama of Lviv (5 different shots in total),
- Old Town Square with the Korniakt Tower,
- City Theater,
- Building of the National Seym / UJK,
- St. Yura Cathedral,
- House of Invalids (2 photos: panorama and courtyard),
- Wallachian Orthodox Church,
- Cathedral Basilica,
- Dominican Church,
- Stryisky Park, and the monument to Jan Kilinsky (a total of 6 different representations),
- Christmas Crib (possibly from the Cathedral Basilica?, photo size 21 x 16.8 cm).
The collection opens with a beautiful panorama of the city of Lviv from the 1920s-30s, measuring 22.2 x 17.3 cm. Most of the photographs are printed in postcard-like or slightly smaller (e.g. 13 x 8 cm) / larger (e.g. approx. 17.5 by 9 cm, 16 x 12 cm, 17.6 x 12.5 cm) formats.
Some of the photographs are anonymous. On the last pages, 10 photographs in smaller formats, with depictions of monuments, works of art (reproduction of a portrait of Sr. Magdalena Motreska, 2 pcs.), weapons from the collection of the Jan III Sobieski Museum; one photograph is a photocopy of a picture of the Blessed Virgin Mary of Ostrobramska, by Jan Bulhak.
4 photographs depict the rapier of the famous Francisco Ruiz of Toledo from the collection of the Jan III Sobieski Museum in Lviv, one of which was reproduced in an article by Rudolf Mękicki in the Literary and Scientific Courier in 1938.
All pasted into a 1930s/40s album published in Kyiv (USSR). Part of album pages with glue marks. One card with tears and loss of upper margin.
Rudolf Mękicki (1887-1942) - Polish medalist, heraldist, art historian and museologist. He designed ex-librises, book covers, occasional prints, diplomas, but also coins, medals, badges and plaques. He taught at the Lviv Polytechnic University. From 1922 until his death he was curator at the King John III National Museum in Lviv. He donated to the aforementioned institution, among other things, a magnificent collection of coins from the Lviv mint. He died in 1942 and was buried in Lviv's Lychakiv Cemetery.
Rudolf Huber (1875-1942) - photographer, member of the Lviv Photographic Society in 1903-1939. In 1905 he married Zofia Trzemeska, owner of a photographic establishment in Lviv. He ran the establishment together until 1935 (Lviv, 11 Romanowicza Street). He was the author of the "Photographic primer", printed in the "Price of Novelties" (1905, published by Borzemski). His works were included in the "Album of Polish Photographers" (1905).
Marek Münz (1872-1937) - photographer, owner of a photographic establishment since about 1900, took many photographs for the press while running the "Illustration Bureau". He was credited with establishing the "Industrial Association of Photographers in Lviv" (1910). He was active until the 1930s.
Janina Mierzecka (1896-1987) - photographer and photographer. She studied philosophy in Lviv and took art courses, including a photography course with Henryk Mikolasch (1925). She ran a photographic studio and was active in the Lviv Photographic Society, exhibiting and organizing many exhibitions. In 1941 she settled in Warsaw, where she founded ZPAF in 1947. From 1949 to 1970 she was active as a photographer in Wroclaw. She was also involved in the history of Polish photography.
Ludwik Wieleżyński (1882-1949) - Lviv photographer. In 1913-1914 he ran the photographic atelier "ATA" at 4 Mariacka Square in the "European" hotel. In subsequent years, he changed the places where he ran the atelier (including on Sykstuska 9, Piekarska 1C, Hoffmana 6). During the German occupation of Lviv (1941-1944) he worked in the city archive, and was the author of photographs recording the wartime destruction of Lviv.
Janina Mierzecka (1896-1987) - photographer and photographer. She studied philosophy in Lviv and took art courses, including a photography course with Henryk Mikolasch (1925). She ran a photographic studio and was active in the Lviv Photographic Society, exhibiting and organizing many exhibitions. In 1941 she settled in Warsaw, where she founded ZPAF in 1947. From 1949 to 1970 she was active as a photographer in Wroclaw. She was also involved in the history of Polish photography.
[biography after: I. Kotlobulatova "Lviv in Photography 1860-2006" Lviv 2008].
WE INVITE YOU TO WATCH THE FOOTAGE DEDICATED TO THIS UNIQUE ALBUM.