Zbiory fotografii Muzeum w Łowiczu
The Photographic Collections of the Museum in Łowicz

Summary/Abstract: This article deals with the pictures amassed in the Museum which was set up in 1905 as a collection of antiquities and historic souvenirs formerly belonging to Władysław Tarczyński (1845-1918), lover of history, collector and patriot (ill. 12). The author recounts in chronological order the thematic groupings: the oldest pictures from 1861-4, relating to the January Uprising and depicting more insurgents (ill. 14 a-b), as well as politicians, oppressed persons and events following on from the insurrection; pictures from the period 1879-1937, presenting images of the building complex and activity of the town’s fire brigade (ill. 16), pictures illustrating the visit of tsar Nicholas II to Warsaw in 1895, as well as pictures from 1900-1915 and 1926 comprising the first documentation of Tarczyński’s antique collections (ill. 13). Pictures dating from the interwar years depict the architecture of Łowicz (preceded by the oldest known view from 1901: ill. 15), various political events and the town’s social, cultural as well as its religious life. Apart from this, pictures and glass slides are on display which originate from the Polish Museum at Rappersville and Museum of Industry in Cracow, these being of an advertising or didactic nature, depicting towns and cities in Poland, as well as monuments of Polish art and nature, including the salt mines at Wieliczka. The collection described here is typical of a small, provincial museum in a populous town with ancient traditions. Generally speaking, it has the character of a collection that has been amassed in an unplanned manner, with the one exception of the most frequently repeated theme among the oldest pictures intended to excite patriotic fervour, as well as those linked directly to the town of Łowicz itself, the documentary value of which is extremely valuable. Digitalized and reedited material

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