Beginnings of the Polish Museum in Rapperswil
The Polish National Museum at the castle in Rapperswil was founded in 1870 by the Polish émigré Count Władysław Broël-Plater, supported by Polish circles and Swiss circles associated with the writer Gotfryd Keller. Plater created a museum in a historic 13th century castle, which was leased to a Pole for a symbolic fee for 99 years. The refurbished building became a repository for a growing collection of artworks, memorabilia, books and archival material relating to the homeland.

Even before the opening of the museum in Rapperswil, a Plater-founded Bar Column, known as the Polish Column of Freedom, stood on Lake Zurich. It was unveiled on 16 August 1868, the centenary of the Bar Confederation. The column was designed by the Swiss architect Julius Stadler of the Zurich University of Technology, and the sculpture of the soaring eagle was made by Louis Wethli. Over time, the marble column was replaced by a cast-iron one. The plaques decorating the base of the column bear the coat of arms of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth and inscriptions - in Latin: "Magna res libertas" and Polish and German: "The indomitable Polish spirit with a hundred years of bloody struggle protesting against the oppressing violence from the free land of the Helvetians speaks to justice, God and the world". The author of the quotation is the poet Kornel Ujejski. The column was later moved to the castle courtyard, and since 1968 it has stood next to the entrance to the Rapperswil castle, the seat of the Polish Museum.

History of the Rapperswil museum collection
The museum's collection grew steadily thanks to donations from all over the world, and after the collapse of the national uprisings, the institution played an important role in coordinating and initiating efforts to regain Poland's independence. Among the patrons of the Rapperswil centre of the Polish diaspora, it is worth recalling Henryk Bukowski, who was born in Kaukle, in what was then Kaunas province, a January insurgent, Stockholm antiquarian, collector and ardent patriot. The common grave of Count Władysław Broël-Plater, his wife, the well-known German actress Karolina Bauer, and Henryk Bukowski is located in the inner courtyard of Rapperswil Castle. It is also worth mentioning that the librarians of the first Rapperswil museum included Zygmunt Wasilewski, Stefan Żeromski and Stanisław Grabski.

After Poland regained independence, the will of Władysław Count Broël-Plater was fulfilled and the raperswil collection was ceremoniously transported to Warsaw in 1927. Marshal Józef Piłsudski himself was actively involved in bringing them back. Donated to the independent homeland, the collection included more than 3,000 works of art, 2,000 historical memorabilia, a military collection, 20,000 engravings, 9,000 medals and coins, 92,000 books and 27,000 archival items. Unfortunately, during the Second World War almost all the raperswiliana were destroyed by the Germans. A small number of surviving objects can be found today in the collections of the National Museum in Warsaw, the Museum of the Polish Army, the Adam Mickiewicz Museum of Literature and the Royal Castle in Warsaw. Among those that have survived is the urn containing the heart of Tadeusz Kościuszko, which was transported from Rapperswil to Warsaw and deposited in the chapel at the Royal Castle in 1927. In 1939, this precious national relic was saved at the risk of his life by the custodian of the castle collection, Kazimierz Brokel. It miraculously survived the Warsaw Uprising. It is now housed in the Warsaw castle, which was rebuilt after the war.

The turbulent fate of the Polish Museum in Rapperswil
. After the collection of the Polish National Museum was transported to Poland, the walls of the Rapperswil castle were deserted for a few years, but in 1936 an exhibition of contemporary Polish art was opened, which marked the beginning of the functioning of the new museum, directed by Halina Kenarowa-Jastrzębowska.

The Museum of Modern Poland presented the achievements of the Second Republic, and during the Second World War it provided care for 13,000 Polish soldiers, mainly from the 2nd Division of Foot Riflemen, interned in Switzerland in 1940 after fighting in France. After the Second World War, the new communist authorities tried to turn the facility into a propaganda museum, which met with resistance from the Swiss. The museum finally closed down in 1952 and its collections were transported to the country.

Following the closure of the museum, the Polish-Swiss "Society of Friends of the Polish Museum in Rapperswil" was established in January 1954. Its founders were Swiss and Polish émigrés who did not accept the communist regime in Poland. Many of them were recruited from the milieu of Polish soldiers who had remained in Switzerland after the end of the war. Thanks to the efforts of the Society, the third Polish Museum in Rapperswil was opened at the castle in 1975, with Janusz Morkowski as its curator.

In 1978, the Libertas Cultural Foundation was established by the Society of Friends of the Polish Museum to raise funds for the development and maintenance of the institution. The contribution of the Foundation's co-founder Julian Godlewski to strengthening the material foundations of the Museum was very important. The "Burghof" building, purchased through his efforts and adjacent to the castle hill, has housed the library and archives of the Polish Museum since 1987, collecting valuable documents of political associations and organisations as well as iconographic collections.

An important event for the Polish Museum in Rapperswil was the donation in 2014 of the lost paintings of Hanna Weynerowska 'Kali' (1918-1998), a graduate of the Academy of Fine Arts in Warsaw (1939), a soldier of the Warsaw Uprising, and a highly regarded painter working successfully abroad (in Belgium, Canada, and since 1953 in the United States). Under a bequest in her will in June 1988, the artist donated to the Polish Museum in Rapperswil a collection of 90 of her paintings stored in a villa in San Francisco. After her death, these works never reached their destination. The Polish Museum in Rapperswil asked the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage in 2010 for help in the search and recovery of the paintings. The happy return of the lost paintings to the Polish Museum in Rapperswil was the result of intensive efforts by the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage in close cooperation with the FBI Office in Poland.

The Polish Museum in Rapperswil today
. The institution is a member of the Permanent Conference of Museums of Archives and Libraries in the West. This organisation was established in 1979 at the Polish Museum in Rapperswil and brings together museums, archives and Polish libraries abroad. Dr Anna Buchmann has been its director since 2005.

The current situation of the Polish Museum in Rapperswil, the most recognisable symbol of the Polish emigration, is connected with the decision to remove this institution from its historic premises taken by the authorities of the Rapperswil-Jona municipality. Despite intensive negotiations over several years with the municipal authorities, as well as talks involving many politicians at the highest levels, and the efforts of both Poles at home and in the diaspora, as well as the Swiss supporting the museum, the functioning of the institution at the Rapperswil castle came to an end in 2022. The Polish Museum, despite the probably inevitable necessity of leaving the castle, which has mainly commercial functions, will not cease its activities. It will continue its mission, uniting not only the Polish community, but also enriching the Polish-Swiss cultural heritage and disseminating the culture, history and traditions of the Republic of Poland in Switzerland. The Polish Museum will remain in Rapperswil - with funds from the Polish state purchased the historic complex "Hotel Schwanen". It was in the "Schwanen" that the foundation act of the Polish Museum was solemnly read out and signed in 1870, the headquarters of which became the Rapperswil castle for many years. "Schwanen" in the 19th century was a meeting place for Poles living in Switzerland. Patriotic ceremonies were organised there and meetings of the then authorities of the Polish Museum were held there. On 1 July 2022, a letter of intent was signed regarding the intention of the Minister of Culture and National Heritage to establish a new cultural institution co-run by the Polish Cultural Foundation "Libertas" and the Society of Friends of the Polish Museum in Rapperswil. The new Polish Museum in Rapperswil will establish its headquarters in the "Schwanem", which will also house the Swiss branch of the Witold Pilecki Institute of Solidarity and Valour.

It is worthwhile that the history of the Polish Museum in Rapperswil is also made known to the youngest recipients of culture. It is for them that the POLONIKA Institute has prepared an episode of the adventures of Pol and Niki visiting the mysterious castle on Lake Zurich .