The PAU Lanckoroński Photothèque represents a part of the ‘collection of scientific photographs’ that Count Karol Lanckoroński donated to PAU in 1929.
At the time, it contained, ‘more or less 60,000 photographs […] of works of art from the fields of architecture, sculpture, and painting, with a special focus on Italian art.’
In reality, however, the PAU Lanckoroński Photothèque currently contains a little over 40,000 original positive prints.
In accordance with the wishes of Karol Lanckoroński, the collection was first sent to the PAU Arts and Science Base in Rome.
Eventually, however, most of it arrived in Kraków and it is now housed in the main building of the Polish Academy of Arts and Sciences on ul, Sławkowska in that city.
The collection of the PAU Lanckoroński Photothèque contains only positive prints.
A significant proportion of these are works by the best photographers of the time and from the most famous European publishers and ateliers.
The subjects of the photographs, in addition to the celebrated works mentioned before (from antiquity to the nineteenth century), also include archaeological expeditions to Asia Minor and Karol Lanckoronski's numerous journeys of exploration.
However, there are no family photographs or photographs showing the interiors of palaces belonging to the Lanckoroński family.
Even though an inventory of the collection is being taken, and it is gradually being digitalised, the photographs are sometimes exhibited.
To date, the PAU Lanckoroński Photothèque has presented selected photograms (or their reproductions) at the following exhibitions:
– From the Lanckoroński Photothèque (PAU and PAN Scientific Archive in Kraków, 2009);
– Nineteen, nineteenth-century British photographs (Association of Art Historians, Kraków branch, 2010);
– Fashion in the nineteenth century Islamic world… Photographs from the collection of Count Karol Lanckoroński (Space Gallery, Kraków, 2013);
– Stories told in photographs (PAU and PAN Scientific Archive in Kraków, 2013);
– Lanckoroński’s Vienna (Vienna PAU Arts and Science Base, 2013);
– Exhibition of historical photographs from the Lanckoroński Photothèque (Polish Institute in Rome, 2014);
– Roman sculpture in old photographs (Space Gallery, Kraków, 2014).
Selected photographs from the PAU Lanckoroński Photothèque are sometimes also made available to the public during exhibitions organised by other institutes of culture, including the PAU and PAN Scientific Archive in Kraków and the PAU and PAN Academic Library in Kraków.
The PAU Lanckoroński Photothèque also promotes its holdings of photography by attending academic conferences and making photographs available to scholars to aid them in their research.
The picture librarian at the Photothèque is Adam Korczyński (This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. )