Published: 2025-09-30

The commemorative and emotional value of the Biržai Radziwiłłs’ kunstkammer objects in the seventeenth century

Urszula Augustyniak
Kwartalnik Historii Kultury Materialnej
Section: Studies and Materials
DOI https://doi.org/10.23858/KHKM73.2025.2.002

Abstract

The main aim of this article is to reconstruct the motivations for which certain categories of objects entered the Radziwiłł treasure chambers and were preserved for several generations. The assumption adopted is that this was due not only to their material value, but also to the need to commemorate the persons and events associated with
them, as well as to the emotional value of certain ‘donatives’ for both donors and recipients. The source basis of the analysis consists of the registers of movable property
from the Radziwiłł treasuries, preserved in the Central Archives of Historical Records in Warsaw (the Warsaw Radziwiłł Archive), and in particular the Lubecz Kunstkammer during the times of Krzysztof II Radziwiłł, his son Janusz, his nephew Bogusław, and Bogusław’s daughter, Ludwika Karolina.

Keywords:

Radziwiłł’s, commemoration, emotions, treasure chambers, Kunstkammer

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Augustyniak, U. (2025). The commemorative and emotional value of the Biržai Radziwiłłs’ kunstkammer objects in the seventeenth century. Kwartalnik Historii Kultury Materialnej, 73(2), 181–195. https://doi.org/10.23858/KHKM73.2025.2.002

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