The Mieczysław Porębski Library

In a side building of MOCAK, next to the reading room, there is a room in which the Mieczysław Porębski Library is exhibited.

Professor Mieczysław Porębski expressed his desire to donate his library to the MOCAK Museum of Contemporary Art in Krakow many years ago. When the Museum was established, he returned to this idea and donated the Krakow part of his book collection to the institution, a total of around four thousand volumes.

The books, which the Professor collected throughout his life, reflect the scientific and artistic passions of the author of the Iconosphere. A significant part of the book collection consists of souvenirs or testimonies of the Professor's travels. These are not only books, but also museum guides and exhibition catalogues, folders and bulletins of galleries and art institutions brought from France, Spain, Italy, Germany or Russia – often accompanied by short notes or commentaries. The book collection created in this way forms the library of a versatile humanist, interested in almost every field of knowledge.

The books donated by Professor Porębski have been gathered in a room whose arrangement is reminiscent of the interior of a study in his Krakow flat. The interior design was prepared by the Professor's son, Professor Jerzy Porębski. In addition to books, the Library also holds paintings by painters from the Krakow Group, most of them friends of the Professor: Jerzy Nowosielski, Tadeusz Kantor, Maria Jarema, Andrzej Wróblewski, Tadeusz Brzozowski, Adam Hoffmann and Stanisław Ignacy Witkiewicz.

Art historians interested in the Professor's scholarly work will be able to take advantage of the collection of all publications written by Mieczysław Porębski – books and texts dispersed in monographs, magazines or catalogues.

Vitising the Mieczysław Porębski Library requires a prior appointment by telephone: 12 263 40 36 or e-mail: biblioteka@mocak.pl. No more than two people, not including staff, are allowed inside at any one time.