To find more about El Greco Year 2014 go to:
http://muzeum.siedlce.pl/en/historia
"The Diocese Museum in Siedlce was established in 1918,
which was the year when Pope Benedict XV restored after annexation the
Janów (Podlaska) diocese. At that time the Ordinary was Bishop Henryk
Przeździecki, who founded the museum that operates until today. The
first administrator of the Museum was Father Karol Dębiński, the doctor
of the Ecclesiastic Academy in Petersburg and the professor of this
university (before the Soviet revolution), the official of the Bishop’s
Court in Janów Podlaski and in Siedlce, vicar general of the Curia and
the founder of the Bishop’s Secondary School in Siedlce. In 1919 the
government commissioned the first physical inventory of artifacts, but
until today the only part of it that survived are a list of coins and a
few notes about some exhibits. In 1922 the Museum collections were
relocated to Siedlce and the exhibition was displayed in the Curia
building. During World War II (1939-1945) occupation forces plundered
the Museum and closed it, but fortunately a part of the most precious
exhibits was hidden by Father Jan Grabowski.
In 1974 Jan Mazur, the Bishop of
Siedlce appointed a chairman of the Diocese Artistic – Architectural
Commission - Wacław Skomorucha, the Associate Bishop, as well as founded
the Office of the Diocese Monuments Conservator, managed by Father
Tadeusz Kulik. The task of these two institutions was i. a. the
collection of works of art no longer used as objects of cult, in order
to protect the cultural heritage against destruction, dispersal or
alienation. The period from 1974 to 1991 was the time when the
institution commissioned the conservation of 125 most precious paintings
on wood and canvass, of wooden sculptures, manuscripts and fabrics.
Conservation works were performed by professionals from PKZ and private
conservation workshops from Warsaw, Toruń, Kraków, Gdańsk and Siedlce.
Since 1991 the Museum has occupied the
building at 56 Bishop Ignacy Świrski Street. Works related to
adaptation and organisation of the new venue lasted until 2000, which
was also a year of death of Father Tadeusz Kulik, the first post-war
administrator of the museum. In the same year Bishop Jan Wiktor Nowak
founded the Diocese Museum and appointed as its director Father Henryk
Drozd, a historian of art. The official opening took place on June 1st
2000. An important event that followed in 2004 was the presentation of
the only El Greco’s painting in Poland – The ecstasy of St. Francis.
On October 15th Bishop Zbigniew Kiernikowski expressed his gratitude to
Father Henryk Drozd for his contribution in the aspect of the Museum’s
opening and functioning and appointed a new director, Father Robert
Mirończuk, a PhD in the history of art.