The text mentions the issue of the so-called Royal House for the establishment of the "King John III National Museum". Among those credited with the restoration were the director of the city archives, Dr Aleksander Czołowski, and Dr Rutowski. The text goes on to mention the museum's current holdings, including some 300 Polish portraits from the 16th to the 19th century, as well as memorabilia related to the King: coins, seals, engravings, prints, diplomas and autographs. Finally, there is a collection of weapons and artefacts relating to Lviv as such (Source: Tygodnik Illustrowany, Warsaw 1912, Półrocze II, pp. 957-958, after: University of Łódź Digital Library).

A modernised reading of the text.

The King John III Museum in Lviv.

The cassation decrees of Emperor Joseph II ceded to the Austrian government a whole series of ancient churches, monasteries and Orthodox churches with their mementos, monuments and a multitude of works of art. All of these sometimes immeasurable treasures were wasted, scattered or sold off; the ancient buildings, often of strangely beautiful architecture, were stripped of their ornamentation and turned into government buildings, barracks, warehouses, depots and so on. The years 1807 and 1810 saw the remnants of Polish goldsmiths' works being taken from the government mint to rescue the state treasury, ruined by the Napoleonic wars. Restless and heated times entailed the confiscation of ancient, precious weapons, of which there were enough in almost every Polish home; the former royal and municipal arsenals were filled with them. Everything that resembled a powerful, wealthy and monetary Poland disappeared and was lost amid a strange kind of indifference on the part of the general public, who looked on apathetically. Slowly an awakening came - people began to collect souvenirs, started to create public and private collections. Lviv was the latest to take part in this work. While Polish museums and collections were being revived, Lviv's priceless treasures were taken away by clever foreign traders, the old city hall disappeared, from which portraits of Polish kings and hetmans were removed, the beautiful monuments of the Latin, Armenian and Wallachian cathedrals were scattered - the rest of the destruction was done by cannonballs during the bombardment of 1848. And then even worse times came. The terrible economy left the last remnants to be plundered by speculators, with which private houses were "decorated", respectable buildings that remembered the beautiful times were torn down and their materials used to build tenement houses in the new "style". Lviv, which was growing every year, finally remembered that as the borderland capital of Poland it had a duty to save what had been preserved, that it was time to get down to work and to save from final destruction all that testified to our past and our culture. The beginning was made in 1891 by the management of the City Archives, which put into practice the idea of establishing a "City Historical Museum" and, despite many adversities, provided it with the ground and conditions for development. In addition to the City Archives, a separate department was created, an embodiment of the Historical Museum, which until 1908 was limited to Lviv's city memorabilia only. The collection was slowly built up by purchase, donation or deposit; in the hall of the archive office municipal and guild memorabilia of the city were gathered. Over the course of twenty years, so much had accumulated that it was necessary to think of a special room, to establish a National Gallery of the City of Lviv. With a sense of national and cultural duty, the city decided to purchase the "Royal House" from the Poninskis' heirs. In 1908, the city actually purchased this building, which had been the property of King Jan III. In 1908 it did indeed purchase this beautiful and expensive Polish monument, a reminder of the great king who had graced Lviv with his residence. At the request of the much-deserving Deputy Mayor of the city, Dr. Tadeusz Rutowski, the City Council allocated the "Royal Tenement House" to house the future "King John III National Museum". Work began immediately on housing the collections that had been gathered over the years. However, the building had to be restored and brought back to its original state. Thanks to the energy of the Vice-Mayor, Dr. Rutowski, and the invaluable Director of the City Archives, Dr. Aleksander Czołowski, who rendered immense services to the development of the Museum, today the "Kamienica Królewska" is in a new, dignified state. The restoration of the building is a credit to Dr Czołowski and Dr Rutowski, who took great care to ensure that nothing was altered in the building and that its commemorative and architectural value was preserved. This is evidenced by the restoration of the two-storey cloister, the beautiful ground floor hall, the lovely rooms with their pointed vaults, the splendid doorways and portals - everywhere one can see the careful and wise hand which was guided by taste, civic sense and concern for the smallest detail that says something about the cultural Poland of the past. The collection gathered so far has already formed a substantial part of the Museum. They include Polish portraits (about 300) from the 16th to the 19th century, valuable from a historical point of view. There are fourteen portraits of Jan III and his family alone. In addition, there is a wealth of memorabilia relating to the person of the King, medals, coins, seals, engravings, prints, diplomas, autographs - as well as many other objects, such as an exquisite collection of weapons, excavations, a tapidarium and so on. The Museum has also included in its collection monuments relating to Lwow, such as views of the city and its individual streets, buildings, historical scenes, guild and municipal monuments, coins and medals minted in Lwow, portraits of men famous in the history of Lwow and others. Donations and deposits are almost beginning to arrive from all over Poland. It is to the credit of Dr Czołowski, who set himself the task of his life to create a first-rate national institution, that the Museum, which will soon be opened, is developing in such a way. Highly knowledgeable, extraordinarily energetic, bold in initiative, sacrificing himself for the sake of his beloved work, Dr Czołowski deserves to be enrolled by the city among its bravest and most distinguished citizens. This should be raised and assessed. What Dr. Czolowski's future plans are, I learnt from a conversation with him when I went to see him on behalf of the Weekly. A whole series of tasks," said Dr Czołowski, "now await the Museum, such as the scientific processing of the collections, their skilful grouping, making them as accessible as possible to the visiting public and to those working in science. As a living organism, whose need is felt by the society, the Museum must strive to create a department of Ruthenian, Jewish and Armenian monuments, so that it would be a full reflection of the life and relations that existed on the eastern borderlands of the Republic for so many centuries. In addition to all these tasks, a special task of the Museum should be to create a large gallery of Polish historical portraits and to collect as many specimens of Polish weapons as possible. In time, as the collection grows, it will have to be differentiated and the department of monuments related to Lviv will have to be separated into a separate "City Historical Museum". Before this happens, its future depends on the care of the city, the country, the state, on the support and sacrifice of the Polish society, on those who will direct the fate of this institution". Visiting the still untidy collection, it is hard to believe that one man was able to do all this with relatively small sums of money, as from 1908-12 a total of 35 kor. Dr Czołowski calculates the total cost of restoration of the building at 300 kor. Today there are more than 10,000 objects including medals in the Museum! Dr. Czołowski almost single-handedly created a collection of weapons, which will be the first of its kind in Poland. The idea and method of arranging the armoury in the ground-floor lavatories that served the barracks of King John III's guard brings glory and honour to its creator, as does all this beautiful, tireless work, which will be a reminder for future generations. And this work does not stop for a moment. Dr. Lozinski travels, buys, examines himself on the spot and smaller excavations, sometimes snatches expensive souvenirs from the hands of foreign traders, and all this - about in silence, without publicity, without publicity. The people, who are watching the creation of this mighty work which will add splendour to the borderland capital of Poland, support the initiator's efforts: donations and deposits are pouring in from all over the country, the rooms are constantly filling up. For the time being, it is not possible to describe in detail the sometimes priceless objects because of the disorder; as soon as the Museum is ready, we will publish a detailed report. There is still much to be done, but with Dr Lozinski's energy and work, it can be expected that this wonderful new cultural institution in Lviv will soon be opened to the public. It is also worth mentioning that the adaptation works were very skilfully carried out by the building advisor Mr Michal Luzhitskyi.