The Tatra Museum - Zakopane, Poland

[Marek Szymanowicz]

Hallo

As I promissed earlier
here is some information about another interesting polish oriental carpet collection for all fans planning a visit in the Tatra Mountains.

The collection dates back to 1906, which was when Włodzimierz Kulczycki (1862–1936), Professor and later Rector of the Veterinary Academy in Lwów [now L’viv, Ukraine] bought his first eastern carpets. His attitude towards oriental fabric and carpet collecting was from the very beginning based on scholarly foundations: he gathered the literature on carpet weaving and acquainted himself systematically with this peculiar area of the material culture of the East. He was himself the author of several works on carpets.(in polish and german language.) Between the World Wars his collection was several times presented at exhibitions. His son Jerzy Kulczycki (1898–1974), Ph.D., an art historian, was likewise a passionate collector. Between the World Wars, he augmented the collection in keeping with the concept outlined by this father: it was to cover carpet weaving practised by all the nations of Asia Minor, Central Asia, Iran and the Caucasus.

During World War II the collection suffered no major losses. When the repatriation of the Poles started in 1946, Kulczycki found himself in Warsaw and was for many years employed at Warsaw University. Owing its survival to many people’s help, the collection was for many years stored beneath the double-floor in the Kulczyckis’ bed-sitter. Because of Jerzy Kulczycki’s declining health the couple moved to the region of Podhale (Southern Poland) in 1964, previously resolving to divide the collection and selling part of it to Wawel Castle in Cracow. Sixty-four items, for the most part luxury ones, intended for palace use, went to Cracow. Of no lesser value, the folk carpets accompanied the Kulczyckis at Murzasichle where they had a house built. In accordance with her husband’s will, in 1977 Anna Piotrowicz-Kulczycka placed them in charge of the Tatra Museum in Zakopane as a gift to the nation.

I'd love to post few pictures but I'm not sure how to do it ;/

As mentioned part of the collection is shown at the Wawel Castle in Kraków, which ownes a lot of other orientalia including Ottoman tents and flags taken from Turks after the Battle of Vienna, a lot of eastern armours, some ceramics and so on.. thats a subject for a different thread and another reason for a visit in Poland ;)
There is some nice and rare pieces to see too; like so called "polish/polonaise" carpets, the "cracow-paris" carpet.

if you need to know more - i'll be happy to do a little research ;)

regards
marek

[Steve Price]

Hi Marek

Would you be kind enough to send me the URL's or the image files for them by e-mail (sprice@vcu.edu), and I'll insert them into your very interesting post.

Thanks.

Steve Price

[Marek Szymanowicz]

Hallo Steve

You've replied to my post before I had a chance to post it ;)
WOW ;)

Here is a link to a publication on the exhibition in the Wawel Castle - it's in polish but it shows some pictures"

www.wawel.krakow.pl/pl/zalaczniki/28Kobierce.pdf (http://www.wawel.krakow.pl/pl/zalaczniki/28Kobierce.pdf)

Rest of the pictures I could find I'll email too you just now so please stick them in..
some of them are small but you can see the on Wawel's web site in the textiles section:
http://www.wawel.krakow.pl/en/index.php?op=22


all the best
marek

Here are two images. Thank you for sending them, Marek.

Steve Price

http://www.turkotek.com/show_and_tell/AFMT_03.jpg

http://www.turkotek.com/show_and_tell/AFMT_22.jpg

[Richard Larkin]

Hi Marek,

Excellent post. Please do send along any more images you might come across. The images in the first link are especially good.

Do I understand correctly that the image including the outstanding long kelim is from the collection in the Tatra Museum? Are you aware of other venues accessible online where pieces from this collection can be seen?

One last question. Could you provide some coaching on the proper pronunciation of "Kulczycki" for one who reads only English? Thanks.

Rich Larkin

[Marek Szymanowicz]

Hallo Richard

I've been serching the web for more pictures all day yesturday and I couldn't find much more :(
Here are 3 that I found but you can see them in the first link too..


http://www.turkotek.com/show_and_tell/d609.jpg
http://www.turkotek.com/show_and_tell/d611.jpg
http://www.turkotek.com/show_and_tell/d612.jpg

The link with pictures, the one in polish language is a short abstract from the album printed on the occasion of the exhibition. It's in polish with just a short abstract in english but it contains pictures of ALL pieces of Kulczycki's collection - about 200 pieces devided by origin; persja, Caucasus, Anatolia, Turkiestan, not only carpets and kilims but pieces of old textiles too.

I've been talking to my friends from the Castle and I found out that unfortunately the whole print of the catalogue was sold emediately so even they don't have a single one for themselves but you can try to look for it:
" Kobierce i Tkaniny wschodnie z kolekcji Kulczyckich" - Kraków 2006, few autors of descriptions but the main one is Magdalena Piwocka, ISBN 83-88476-36-X

The long kelim on one of pictures is from the Tatra Museum, There is few others simmilar there. They were generaly very popular in Poland in the XIX/XX, and they are still for sale in antique shops, I have one too..
they were popularly called "Karamani" as from Karaman region in Turkey thou they were from various regions. Always in pair of 2 complete pieces, lenght about 3.4 m, they were extra popular as a door courtain in rich houses and they were perfeclty long just too fit the haight of the rooms.

KULCZYCKI in english - hmmm...???
maybe something like: cool - chy - tsky ???

[Marek Szymanowicz]

I'll make few scans of the catalogue at home and post it for you some day soon.

regards
marek

PS. sorry for my terrible mistakes in english

[Rich Larkin]

Hi Marek,

I googled that catalog title. The good news is, it came right up. The bad news is, it was all in polish. So I have no idea what they were saying about it. I guess the joke's on me. :jester: :rofl: :laughing_2: :banghead:

I will persevere nevertheless. We appreciate your efforts in this matter. It is always interesting to see what an early and enthusiastic collector considered worthy of collection.

Please be assured, there is no need to apologize for any lapses in your use of english. In fact they are few indeed, and your mastery is admirable. :cheers:

Rich Larkin

[Filiberto Boncompagni]

Hi Rich,

Googling the catalog title brings the link to the PDF file. On the right of the link, you’ll see “[Translate this page]”. If you click on it, you’ll go to its English translation ( http://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&sl=pl&u=http://www.wawel.krakow.pl/pl/zalaczniki/28Kobierce.pdf&ei=WNnqSZHZA8-TjAfd95SbCg&sa=X&oi=translate&resnum=1&ct=result&prev=/search%3Fq%3D%2522Ko bierce%2Bi%2BTkaniny %2Bwschodnie%2Bz%2Bk olekcji%2BKulczyckic h%2522%26hl%3Den%26l r%3D%26as_qdr%3Dall) .
It’s far from perfect, but gives the idea.

For your information: Google main page has, on the right, a link to the “Language Tools”:

http://www.google.com/language_tools?hl=en

It offers automated translation - of text or web pages - between forty-one languages.
Regards,

Filiberto

[Marek Szymanowicz]

Hallo All ..

Googling the title is not an option - I did that and all of the sites that Rich was trying to decipher from Polish are press news, articles, comments and invitations to the exhibition.

There is no info about the album - as I wrote earlier it was all sold out of stock in few days and I think it's a bit too early for single copies to show out in second-hand market.
but if you ever see this cover in some little book-stall - GET IT !! ;)

http://www.wawel.krakow.pl/pl/publikacje/m1391944806.jpg


regards

marek

[Rich Larkin]

Hi Filiberto,

Thanks for that tip. It was staring me in the face. We look, but we don't see. I see what you mean about the translation being something of an adventure. A selection from one of the articles will illustrate the point.

Such a diverse group of carpets from Anatolia can boast the few European museums. These represent the centers: Giordes, Uszak, Kula, molasses, Ladik, Konja, Mudżur, et al.

There are few carpets as rare as the coveted "molasses." :fez:

What really registers, of course, is that one wants to see this collection.

Rich Larkin

[Marek Szymanowicz]

Hallo all interested
here I am to finnish my report on the collection. Sorry - it took me some time to scan some pictures but... well, It was a nightmare to pick few out of 200 items so I've picked ones that impressed me most.

I made a little research in the Wawel Castle and I'm bringing sad news - only few pices are on the show (nice ones but still..), few as well in Zakopane - the rest is still in the storage rooms as the old XIX century museal tradition says:
Exhibits are to store them not show them :bravo: Maybe someday it will hopefully change..

So here are few nice ones that I've picked for you..

http://www.turkotek.com/show_and_tell/1.jpg

http://www.turkotek.com/show_and_tell/2.jpg

2 transylvanians, both 165x115 cm, XVII/XVIII cent.

http://www.turkotek.com/show_and_tell/3.jpg

ghiordes, early XIX, 157x113 cm,

http://www.turkotek.com/show_and_tell/4.jpg

melas, 150x100, early XIX

http://www.turkotek.com/show_and_tell/5.jpg

kirshehir, XIX, 178x128

http://www.turkotek.com/show_and_tell/6.jpg

"graveyard" konya, late XVIII/1st half XIX, 163x131 cm

http://www.turkotek.com/show_and_tell/7.jpg

two "karamani" kilim courtains, Aksaray, XIX, 315x148

http://www.turkotek.com/show_and_tell/8.jpg

shirvan (?), late XVIII, 325x155.5 cm

http://www.turkotek.com/show_and_tell/9.jpg

kilim SW caucasus (Dagestan in my opinion), XIX, 548x158.5

http://www.turkotek.com/show_and_tell/10.jpg

baluchi, XIX, 198x123

http://www.turkotek.com/show_and_tell/11.jpg

Ersari, late XIX, 285x202 cm

http://www.turkotek.com/show_and_tell/12.jpg

tekke torba (front only), 2nd half XIX, 34x118 - catalogue doesn't say anything about silk (??) in it and I had a chance to grab it in my hands for a secound few days ago - I'd say 70-80% of white is silk - beautifull and delicate piece...

http://www.turkotek.com/show_and_tell/13.jpg

kazakhstan, mid XIX, 374x173 -

http://www.turkotek.com/show_and_tell/14.jpg

khotan, XIX, 329x172.5

As you noticed some informations of the catalogue cocerning origin and age are questionable. There is info about the knots, wefts and so on so if you need more news let me know..

regards
marek

[Richard Larkin]

Hi Marek,

Thanks again for the very interesting pictures and information. I conclude from your comments that the attributions of origin and age are by the museums. Do you know whether there is any available information about what the original collectors, father and son, had to say about age or provenance?

Rich Larkin

[Marek Szymanowicz]

Hallo Rich..

Yes, the catalogue informations are made by museum but I know that Kulczycki made a lot of notes, kept receipts and so on. Not all of it survived to present day but I'm sure that person who was working on the catalogue was using oryginal documents too - I've seen some on the exhibition.
What I've seen was mostly about design and composition, lists of items, prices, places and dates of purchase with some information about items origins when possible.
eg. "I sold a XVII c. ladik prayer rug to Mr. XXX for the price of xxx. The rug was from my own collection, purchased from Mr. YYY and he was saying that the rug was previously bought from a Jagiellonian University Profesor who got it from a little church in the village of xxxx or a benedictine convent in xxxxxx.."

regards

marek

[Rich Larkin]

Thanks, Marek. Wonderful job on this material. Feel free to put up any more of this stuff when the spirit moves you. There are several striking and interesting rugs among the ones you posted.

Best regards,

Rich Larkin

[Marek Szymanowicz]

Hallo all interested..

I've been visiting Zakopane at the weekend and I couldn't avoid visiting the museum to have a quick look at least at few exhibited pieces of the collection..
I did not have a chance ;(
There was a temporary exhibition on the "120 years of the Tatra museum" - realy nice but NO RUGS.
I was told that they show it temporarily once a year some time in winter.

So if any of you want to visit - check first !!!
BUT - I found a copy of the catalogue - LAST ONE - so it was worth to visit anyway ;)

regards
marek

[Rich Larkin]

Hi Marek,

If I understood everything, most of your posts of catalog images were from Cracow. Is that right? Have you posted any from the Zakopane catalog? We'd love to see some.

Rich Larkin

[Marek Szymanowicz]

Hallo Rich.

I didn't make myself clear I think so you got me wrong a bit.

The collection is devided between Zakopane and Wawel Castle in Cracow. In the castle they have about 60 pieces of which only about 15 are on the show together with other oriental art (chinese ceramics, cracow-paris rug from vienna, turkish tents and armoury. etc) - on the permament exibition called Art of the East.
The rest - about 100 pieces are in the Zakopane but they show it partialy on temporary exhibitions.

The catalogue I'm talking about is the only catalogue with pictures and info about ALL pieces and it was printed on the occasion of a greate exhibition in summer 2006 in the wawel Castle, where the whole re-joined collection was on the show. Front cover of the book is in my post earlier.

Pictures in post #3 are from Zakopane, and from post #11 are scanned from the book so some of them are from Zakopane some from the castle. I think they devided it more less like this: tribal, ethnic and folk character in Zakopane, and because of the characteristic of the place- oldest ones ,prayer rugs, palace rugs, area rugs... in the Castle.

regards
marek

[Rich Larkin]

Thanks, Marek. Got it.

Rich