Muzeum a nauka (na przykładzie historii płaszczów królewskich)

Abstract

MUSEUM AND SCIENCE: A CASE STUDY OF ROYAL MANTLES

The article, based on a lecture delivered at the Museum of Kraków on 5 September 2023, begins with reflections on the changing meanings of ‘museum’. Having posed the question about the role of scholarly research in enabling museums to fulfil their missions, it approaches the problem by considering what is known and not known about the condition, provenance, and functions of the coronation mantle of Stanislaus Augustus Poniatowski displayed in the Cathedral Treasury Museum in Kraków. This robe is compared to the coronation mantle of Augustus III preserved in the National Museum in Warsaw and King John III Sobieski’s mantle as a knight of the French Order of the Holy Spirit, exhibited in the Crown Treasury at Wawel Royal Castle. The final section of the article draws conclusions and makes recommendations for strengthening scientific research in twenty-first-century museums.