13 September – 11 December 2022

Our exhibition tells about the early years of the Coins and Medals Department at the National Museum in Warsaw and the key event for this collection, namely the acquisition of two great numismatic collections – Count Kazimierz Sobański’s Polish coins and Dr. Władysław Semerau-Siemianowski’s antique coins. This took place in 1920 and 1921, when the young Polish state was occupied in establishing its institutions, including the structures of the NMW. To mark the centenary of the Department’s operations, we wish to honour its first benefactors, tell about their lives and passions and remind ourselves of the circumstances of just how their collections became the cornerstone of today’s numismatic collection. At the same time, this centenary is an excellent opportunity to better inform visitors about the amazing collection in the Coins and Medals Department and show its potential.
 

The exhibition consists of three parts, the first two of which present profiles of the Department’s first benefactors and their collections. 

We tell the story, using the available archives, but also illustrating it richly with numismatic artefacts, the biographies of both collectors, as well as the circumstances surrounding the creation of our collections and how they came into the Museum’s possession. In this, it is important to understand the cultural, political and economic situation of not only Poland, but also the rest of Europe in the second half of the nineteenth and early twentieth century, factors determining the possibilities of creating such collections. An in-depth profile of the two benefactors shows them in this broader perspective, and their views on life can be considered exemplary for the times in which they lived and worked. 

 

Both collectors were guided by the trend of positivist thinking about the reality of that time, combining work with their involvement in organic activities, consisting of charity work and care for the development of the communities in which they lived. At the same time, the high standards of their work and prudent actions enabled them to form excellent collections that found their purpose in public institutions, serving an idea greater than just a hobby or wise investment in valuable artefacts. The very fact of their handing over these priceless collections to public institutions goes to show not only their prudently undertaken, civic minded and pro-state activities, but also a well-considered patriotism, which was also associated with a romantic perception of lost