Library of the Jesuit College in Lviv and Its Fate after the Dissolution of the Society of Jesus

Abstract

The Library of the Jesuit college in Lviv is known as the biggest and best-equipped library in the city. It was founded at the beginning of the 17th century, and after one hundred years, there were approximately 12,000 books. But there was a huge loss of books after a great fire in 1734. After that Jesuits restored their book collection. Historiography says that there were approximately 10,000 books in the library at the time of the dissolution of the Society of Jesus. Unfortunately, it is impossible to verify the information about 10,000 books because historians still cannot find an old catalogue of the library. In the article, the author analyzes manuscript III 12719 from the National Library in Warsaw. The author proves that this manuscript is the catalogue of the library of the Jesuit college in Lviv. This catalogue was created in 1774, after the dissolution of the Jesuits. Its author was a former Jesuit monk, Stanisław Chmielowski, who was assigned by Austrian authority to create catalogues of the libraries of the abolished Jesuit colleges. According to this catalogue, the Jesuit library consisted not of 10,000 books but of 5,000. It corresponds to the information from Ludwik Grzebień, the author of the best known research about the Jesuit libraries in the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. After 1713, the Jesuit library in Lviv was still functioning. Due to the order of Vienna’s authority, the Jesuit library was turned into a public library. It was the first public library in the city. At the same time, the library arranged an educational process in schools in the city. As stated by inscriptions in the catalogue, teachers, clergy, and civil servants were the readers of the library. In 1784, the former Jesuit library became a part of the Lviv University Library.