Emeryk Hutten-Czapski

Emeryk Hutten-Czapski
CoA Leliwa, 1874

Engraving by W.A. Bobrow, 1876
Born October 17, 1828
Stańków
Died July 23, 1896
Kraków
Spouse(s) Elżbieta Karolina von Meyendorff
Children Zofia, Karol, Jerzy, Elżbieta
Parent(s) Karol Czapski, Fabianna Obuchowiczówna

Emeryk Hutten-Czapski, Leliwa coat of arms (October 17, 1828 – July 23, 1896) was a Polish Count, scholar, ardent historical collector and numismatist.[1]

Hutten-Czapski was born Emeryk Zachariasz Mikołaj Hutten-Czapski in the town of Stańków near Minsk (then in the Lithuanian part of the partitioned Poland). He was the grandson of Franciszek Stanisław Kostka Czapski, the last governor of Chełm during the First Republic, who inherited parts of the Radziwiłł property in Belarus and in Volyn and moved there from the former Royal Prussia.[1]

Career

Thanks to his aristocratic background, Emeryk Czapski spoke several languages including Polish, French, German and Russian, and knew Greek and Latin. After studying in St. Petersburg Czapski entered the Russian civil service where he had reached high administrative positions: from Chamberlain of the Court, the Secret State Counsel (1863–1864), Governor of Great Novgorod, the General manager of the Forest Department in the Ministry of the Russian State Property, and finally the Deputy Governor of St. Petersburg in 1865. In 1874, the Tsarist authorities recognized his Count title "Hutten" given to his ancestors (of the Rzewuski family line) 100 years earlier.[1][2]

Hutten-Czapski left the civil service in 1879 and settled into his estate in Stańkowa. Over the following years he gathered an unsurpassed collection of Russian and Polish coins, medals and orders, banknotes, Russian and Polish engravings, militaria including suits of armour, glasswork, textiles, oil paintings, and old prints. The artifacts were obtained mainly through purchasing the collections of other magnates including Zygmunt Czarnecki, Natalia Kicka, Leon Skórzewski, Kazimierz Stronczyński, Leon Zwoliński, and Władysław Morsztyn.[1][3]

Contribution to National Museum of Poland

In 1894 Czapski moved, with his vast collections, to the royal city of Kraków in the Austrian Partition, a center of culture and art known frequently as the "Polish Athens" – where Polish was the language of local government.[4] After his untimely death in 1896, his widow donated his collections to the city in 1903 along with the palace he bought in 1894 specifically for that purpose, thus launching the Emeryk Hutten-Czapski Museum in Kraków (located on Wolska street).[5] It is a division of the National Museum at present. His five-volume work about the Polish coins is still the basic source-material today for Polish coin collecting.

Count Emeryk Hutten-Czapski was married to Elżbieta Karolina von Meyendorff (1833–1916) and had four children with her: Zofia, Karol (1860–1904, president of Mińsk), Jerzy (1861–1930) and Elżbieta. He was buried in Kraków, at the historic Rakowicki Cemetery in July 1896.[6]

Notes and references

  1. 1 2 3 4 Bogumiła Haczewska. "Emeryk hrabia Hutten-Czapski (1828-1896). Wielki numizmatyk i kolekcjoner." [Count Emeryk Hutten-Czapski. Great numismatist and collector.] (in Polish). Towarzystwo Przyjaciół Muzeum im. Emeryka Hutten-Czapskiego. Retrieved October 13, 2012.
  2. ↑ M.J. Minakowski. "Emeryk Zachariasz hr. Hutten-Czapski h. Leliwa". ID: 3.598.111 (in Polish). Genealogia potomków Sejmu Wielkiego. Retrieved October 14, 2012.
  3. ↑ Bogumiła Harczewska, Elżbieta Korczyńska (1997). "Wystawa kolekcji w stulecie śmierci" [Emeryk Hutten Czapski commemorative exhibit for the 100th anniversary of his death] (in Polish). Muzeum Narodowe w Krakowie. Retrieved October 14, 2012.
  4. ↑ Bożena Szara (6 April 2001). "Między dwoma światami czyli powrót do przeszłości." [Between the two worlds, or a return to the past] (in Polish). Przegląd Polski. Archived from the original (Internet Archive) on July 23, 2011. Retrieved October 14, 2012. Search key: "polskie Ateny".
  5. ↑ Editorial board (2015). "Emeryk Hutten-Czapski Museum". About. National Museum in Krakow. Retrieved September 13, 2015.
  6. ↑ Net-Line (November 21, 2011). "Emeryk hrabia Hutten-Czapski". Gravesite photographs (in Polish). Kraków - Cmentarz Rakowicki (homepage). Retrieved October 14, 2012.
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