IN MEMORY OF MARIAN SOŁTYSIAK

Abstract

Marian Sołtysiak, PhD, director of the Mazovian Museum in Płock (MMP) from 1961 to 1977, passed away on 20 November 2016. During his office, the museum was transformed into a supraregional institution, extended its collections, expanded its scientific and popularising activity, established contacts with academic and artistic circles, and acquired a new building in the Castle of the Mazovian Dukes. The most significant decision which set the institution’s further course was to start collecting Art Nouveau works, which now form the largest collection of Art Nouveau in Poland and is a showpiece of the museum. They also contributed to the network of museums in the Mazovian region, which led to the development of cultural life in our region. Marian Sołtysiak wrote publications devoted to our museum, one based on his PhD thesis The Mazovian Museum in Płock. Its history and social functions, as well as a memoir The Secesja with petrochemistry in the background. Once he left the MMP, he held important positions in various institutions in Warsaw; for example he was the organiser and first director of the Board of Historical Garden and Palace Conservation of the National Museum, Deputy Director of the Royal Castle in Warsaw, Director of the National Museum, Curator of the Arx Regia Publishing House of the Royal Castle in Warsaw, and Managing Director of the Patrimonum Foreign Enterprise. Sołtysiak was also an academic lecturer at the Pawel Wlodkowic University College in Płock and at the Pultusk Academy of Humanities, and a member of numerous Polish and international associations, museum boards, and scientific societies devoted to culture, protection of monuments and museology. For his indefatigable work for the protection of cultural heritage, he was given the award “For the guardianship of monuments” and the Annual Award from the Minister of Culture and National Heritage.