The Polish Library in Paris is one of the oldest and most important Polish emigration institutions. Located in the heart of Paris, on the island of St. Louis, it was founded in 1838 by members of the Great Emigration. From the very beginning its activity went far beyond the functions of a traditional library, which made it a kind of an unofficial embassy of Polish culture in France.

The establishment of the Polish Library in Paris
After the suppression of the November Uprising France became the home of a group of Polish political refugees who actively worked for the development of Polish culture in other countries. In 1832 they founded the Polish Literary Society, whose aim was to create an institution which would collect memorabilia and publications - old and contemporary - concerning Poland. This mission was accomplished already in 1838 with the establishment of the Polish Library in Paris. The three direct initiators were: the first president of the Society, Prince Adam Jerzy Czartoryski, Julian Ursyn Niemcewicz and Karol Sienkiewicz. The initial resources of the Library were the combined book collections of four Polish organizations in exile.

At first the seat of the Library was the apartment of one of the activists. However, as it turned out, it was not large enough to accommodate the rapidly growing book collection. In 1853, with money raised through public collections and donated by Polish immigrants, it was possible to purchase a 17th century mansion at 6, Quai d'Orléans on Ile Saint-Louis. The island itself became strongly connected with Poland. It was on Ile Saint-Louis that the Hôtel Lambert was located, and after World War II the Libella literary publishing house and Galerie Lambert operated here. Today the Polish Library is the only reminder of the Polish past of the island.

The history of the Polish Library
The Literary Society, in 1854 transformed into the Historical and Literary Society, managed the Polish Library until 1893. When at the end of the 19th century its activity clearly weakened and the number of its members decreased, the Library was handed over to the Academy of Arts and Sciences in Cracow. As a result the Library became a Scientific Station of the Polish Academy of Sciences and it assumed a strictly scientific and archival character. In the years 1899-1926 the position of the director of the Library was held by Adam Mickiewicz's oldest son, Władysław. He handed over all the memorabilia of his father to the Library with an intention to set up a museum and thus since 1903 the Library has housed the Adam Mickiewicz Museum.

At the beginning of the 20th century the Library ran into serious financial problems. Attempts to save it were made by another director - Franciszek Pułaski. Apart from carrying out repair works in the building, he also reorganized the activities of the Library. In this way, similarly to the French Institute in Warsaw, the Library became a centre of Polish culture in France. All items which were not directly related to its profile were sent to Poland, where they enriched museums and libraries.

When the German army entered Paris in June 1940, the building of the Polish Library was occupied and the book collection transported to Germany. Fortunately, a large part of the collection had been evacuated earlier to museums and other libraries in Paris and places in the south of France, which helped them survive.

In 1946 the Library was taken over by the reactivated Historical and Literary Society. Nowadays, like in the old days, the mission of the Polish Library in Paris is conducting scientific, cultural and publishing activities. It is not only a place where collections are made available and scientific research is carried out. One can come to the Library to visit one of its three museums, see an exhibition, or listen to a concert or a lecture.

Collection of the Polish Library in Paris
The Polish Library in Paris houses unique cultural treasures dating from the period from the 15th century to the present day. They have been gathered over the years as gifts from Polish emigrants, French enthusiasts of Polish culture or Polish artists staying in France; thanks to the existence of the Library these items had a chance to survive.

Currently the Library's book collection comprises about 200 thousand volumes, including 50 incunabula and several thousand old prints. These are manuscript collections, state documents and, above all, the archives of the Great Emigration (documentation of emigration societies and institutions, diaries and letters). Apart from these, the Library holds an artistic collection of 25,000 drawings and engravings, 15,000 photographs, almost 1500 paintings, 1,000 posters, 600 medals and coins, 350 sculptures. The most valuable treasures include three earliest editions of Nicolaus Copernicus' „De Revolutionibus Orbium Coelestium”, Queen Bona’s letters, and memorabilia of Fryderyk Chopin and Maria Skłodowska-Curie.

Apart from the Adam Mickiewicz Museum, the building also houses the Bolesław Biegas Museum and the Fryderyk Chopin Salon. The exhibition devoted to Chopin is quite unique; it contains some manuscripts, as well as memorabilia connected with his death: a death mask, a cast of his hand, a lock of hair and an armchair from his last apartment at Vendôme Square. The Bolesław Biegas Museum, on the other hand, presents the artist's work against the background of Polish art of the 19th and 20th centuries. Art exhibitions, changing in the annual cycle, present a wide range of Polish paintings and sculptures stored in the Polish Library. These include works by Piotr Michałowski, Henryk Rodakowski, Jacek Malczewski, Leon Wyczółkowski, Tadeusz Makowski, Cyprian Godebski and Olga Boznańska.