The Order of the Resurrectionists, or Congregation of the Resurrection of Our Lord Jesus Christ, has its headquarters in Rome, near the legendary Spanish Steps. Within the monastic walls hides a spectacular art collection.

Commissioned by the Polonica Institute, work is underway to inventory and document the painting, sculpture, craftsmanship and iconographic collections of the Resurrectionist Order. The activities planned by the researchers are part of a wider project. In fact, it focuses on the study and presentation of the history of the artistic patronage of the Resurrectionist congregation in Italy.

Also on the research itinerary is the shrine of Our Lady of Grace at Mentorelli. Located about 65 km east of Rome in the Prenestinian Mountains at an altitude of 1,020 metres above sea level. The shrine came into the hands of the Resurrectionists in 1857 and from then on the pilgrimage movement associated with it revived. Over the years, unique works of art were also collected there.

The Congregation of the Resurrection of Our Lord Jesus Christ was founded in Paris in 1834 by Bogdan Janski (a friend of Adam Mickiewicz), and later moved to Rome in 1837. Initially, the Order's mission was the spiritual care of Polish emigrants. However, this soon changed. The outstanding founders Fr Piotr Semenenko and Fr Hieronim Kajsiewicz became the binders of the Polish emigration, the informal ambassadors of the Polish cause at the Vatican. The order itself became a source of intellectual renewal for the Polish Church in the times of the Partitions of Poland, especially through such eminent representatives as the founder of the Polish province of the Resurrectionists, Father Walerian Kalinka, and Father Jan Koźmian, who was associated with the congregation.

It is therefore an important place on the cultural map of Europe, which - although inscribed in the history of the continent - is also, or perhaps above all, significant for the Polish legacy.

According to the researchers, the artistic collection of the Resurrectionists is - "next to those of the Polish Library in Paris - the most important collection of the art of Polish exile from the Great Emigration to the Second World War, which has survived unchanged; a Polish place on the map of Rome, which, thanks to the project of the Polonica Institute, will be presented more widely to the Polish public."

Researchers: dr Maria Nitka, Piotr Jamski, Barbara Jamska