Karolina Lanckorońska was born on 11 August 1898 in Buchberg am Kamp in Lower Austria as the second of three children (older brother Antoni and younger sister Adelaide) of Count Karol Lanckoroński and Margaret von Lichnowsky . Count Karol Lanckoroński (1848-1933) came from a Polish aristocratic family of the Zadora coat of arms. He was an extremely distinguished and influential figure not only in Austria itself, but also internationally. This great erudite man received the Order of the Golden Fleece in 1903, in 1905 the Jagiellonian University honoured him with an honoris causa degree and in 1928 he received the Order Polonia Restituta. Lanckoroński was a well-known and respected patron and collector of art. His palace in Vienna housed one of the largest private art collections, and one of the Lanckoroński family's frequent guests was the painter Jacek Malczewski. In addition to his great love of art and science, the Count was also a great traveller. In 1888, he went on a journey around the world. He immortalised his many expeditions and works of art and architecture in photographs, which he donated to the Polish Academy of Arts and Sciences in Rome at the end of his life. This collection was then taken care of by his daughter Karolina. The phototeque is now housed in the Archives of the Polish Academy of Arts and Sciences (PAN i PAU) in Kraków.

Karolina's mother was Princess Margaret von Lichnowski (1863-1957) , who came from an aristocratic Prussian family settled in Silesia. She was the third wife of Karol Lanckoroński.

The residence of this aristocratic family was the neo-Baroque palace at 16/18 Jacquingasse Street in Vienna , which housed a huge collection of art works open to the public once a year. The Lanckorońskis also had their estates in Rozdole on the Dniester near Lviv and in Komarno, to which they often travelled to cultivate the Polish language and Polish roots.

Raised by discerning parents, Karolina Lanckorońska received a careful education in the humanities, with a particular focus on art, literature and philosophy. She attended the elite Benedictine gymnasium in Vienna, where she obtained her secondary school certificate in 1920. Her chosen field of study was history of art at the University of Vienna , where she attended, among other things, lectures with Professor Max Dvořák. In 1926, she defended her doctorate with a dissertation on Michelangelo's Last Judgement (proper title of the thesis: "Studien zu Michelangelos Jüngstem Gercht und sejner künstlerischen Deszendenz"), written under the supervision of Prof. Julius von Schlosser.

From 1929 until the outbreak of the Second World War, Karolina was associated with the Roman Station of the Polish Academy of Arts and Sciences. When in 1929 her father donated to the station a collection of some 60,000 photographs (mainly of works of art and architecture taken during Karol's numerous travels), she began a multi-year period of inventorying, cataloguing and caring for this valuable collection . It was also Lanckorońska's ambition to create a department of art history there, which she systematically expanded with numerous professional literature, including the book collection of Professor Dvořák, who died in 1921. The time spent in Italy also served Lanckorońska to deepen her studies in Renaissance and Baroque art.

In 1933 Karolina returned to her family estate in Komárno , which she inherited after the death of her father. However, she continued her research into the history of art at the Jan Kazimierz University in Lviv, and obtained her habilitation there in 1935 with a thesis entitled "The History of Art . "The decoration of the il Gesu church against the background of Baroque developments in Rome". At this university Karolina , as the first female docent, worked until April 1940 developing her scientific and teaching passions.

With the outbreak of World War II, Karolina Lanckorońska joined the underground Union of Armed Struggle, later the Home Army. She was also active in the Polish Red Cross and the Main Welfare Council. As well as helping and caring for Polish soldiers released from prisoner-of-war camps, she obtained information on war crimes. For her bravado, she was arrested on 12 May 1942 in Stanislawow. She was interrogated by Hans Krüger himself, who revealed to Karolina the order to murder Lviv professors in 1941. From Stanislawow Lanckorońska was transferred to Lviv prison, from which, in September 1942, she was taken to Berlin as a witness in the Krüger case.

Despite many attempts to free Karolina (the president of the International Red Cross in Geneva, among others, intervened in this case), she was sent to the Ravensbrück concentration camp for women in January 1943. The harsh conditions were unable to break her fortitude; she provided help and moral support to her fellow prisoners and even organised clandestine lectures on art history. On her own, in order to relieve herself of the nightmarish reality, she would reminisce about the great European galleries and "look at paintings".

After further interventions, she was released from the camp in April 1945 and made her way to Switzerland. In the safety of her homeland , Karolina took up the task of writing testimonies about the crimes committed against Polish prisoners at Ravensbrück and about the murdered Lviv professors. Despite the possibility of working at the University of Geneva, Lanckorońska returned to Rome, taking up service in the 2nd Polish Corps of General Władysław Anders , who entrusted her with the task of organising studies at Italian universities for demobilised Polish soldiers.

Working for Polish science became a vocation for Karolina Lanckorońska. Together with eminent humanists Henryk Paszkiewicz , Stanisław Biegański , Józef Michałowski and Rev. Prof. Walerian Meysztowicz , she established the Polish Historical Institute in Rome. The founding act was signed on 10 November 1945 in the library of the Scientific Station of the Polish Academy of Arts and Sciences in Rome.

Lanckorońska took an active part in the Institute as an organiser of lectures and as a speaker. Her lectures oscillated around the subject of the early medieval history of Christianity in Poland. However, Karolina's greatest contribution to the activities of PIHR was her editorial work on the series Antemurale (1954-1985) - scholarly articles by Polish scientists conducting research abroad, Elementa ad Fontium Editiones (1960-1991) - source materials on Polish history collected during queries in foreign archives, and Acta Nuntiaturae Polonae (1990-2002) - compiling archival materials on Poland's diplomatic relations with the Holy See.

From her earliest years, Karolina Lanckorońska was taught a sense of service to great causes, help for the weak and needy, and an honourable yet modest attitude. All these qualities accompanied Karolina throughout her long and extremely rich life. She lived through two world wars and during both of them she fought actively and with great courage for freedom and justice.

Until her last days, Karolina Lanckorońska was devoted to Polish science and culture, as evidenced by the numerous scholarships for Polish scientists she awarded thanks to the Brzezie Lanckoroński Foundation, established in 1967. In 1994, she donated her family art collection to the Royal Castle in Warsaw, the Wawel Royal Castle, the Polish Academy of Arts and Sciences in Krakow and the collections of the Jagiellonian Library.

In 1983, she received an honoris causa degree from Jagiellonian University. In recognition of her services to Polish science and culture, she was awarded numerous orders , including the Grand Cross of the Order of Polonia Restituta conferred by Lech Wałęsa in 1991. However, she refused to accept the Order of the White Eagle, the most important decoration awarded by the Republic of Poland.

Many publications, memoirs and documentary films have been made about Karolina Lanckorońska: "Portrait of a Lady" directed by Paweł Woldan in 2004 and "Karolina Lanckorońska. Polka z wyboru", directed by M. Pietrasiewicz in 2021. She herself was the author of many studies, scientific publications, articles and memoirs ("Wspomnienia wojenne 22 września 1939 - 5 kwietnia 1945", Kraków, 2001).

Karolina Lanckorońska died on 25 August 2002 in Rome at the age of 104 . Her tombstone is located in Rome's Campo Verano cemetery [il. 1]. She was the last representative of the Lanckoroński family.