Józef Jodkowski was a Polish archeologist, numismatist, architect. He founded Grodno State Historical and Archaeological Museum.
Background
Józef Jodkowski was born on December 20, 1890 in Grodno, at that time Lithuanian Governorate General, Russian Empire (today’s Belarus) into a poor family. Father, Józef Jodkowski, and mother Sofia Józefna, nee Zanewskaya, came from poor noble families from the villages of the Grodno province. Father worked as a carpenter and at the post of the male gymnasium. In 1896, he opened own carpenter's shop and built a house at Pochtovaya street (today’s Sotsialisticheskaya - central street in Grodno).
Józef’s father was very busy, his mother took care of him and tried to provide the son the best education of that time. When he was a child, she read him such books as “Polish fables” by Anton Glinski and "Pilligrim from Dobromil" – a brief survey of Polish history written by Princess Izabela Czartoryska. These books made a great impression on the boy and greatly determined his future ideas. At the age of nine, Józef read "The Queen of Heaven" - a collection of novels about the Mother of God, written by Marian Gavalevich. This book included beautiful pictures made by the artist Peter Stahevich. The boy was impressed so much that intended to devote himself to painting.
Education
Józef learnt to write from Dominik Begansky, an employee of the judicial archive. Jodkowski brilliantly mastered calligraphy. He made own pens of goose feathers for writing. Later he studied under Stanislav Kostliawski, a future Professor of Vilnius University, and successfully passed entrance exams to the Grodno State Male Gymnasium. He studied well and got interested in Grodno history. At that period, he also began collecting manuscripts and coins. Jodkowski thoroughly learnt Church Slavonic language in order to be able to read and understand old documents and manuscripts. He began studying historical monuments in Grodno region. He was influenced by a well-known historian from Grodno Eustathius Orlovski. Later, Jodkowski often referred to Orlovski in his works. They corresponded till the death of Orlovski in 1913.
Thanks to the teacher Vasily Shapilov at the gymnasium, Jodkowski became interested in painting. Upon graduation from gymnasium in 1907, Iodkovsky moved to Moscow, and entered the School of Arts, but soon dropped out and entered Moscow Archaeological Institute. Love for history and archeology prevailed. He graduated from the Institute in 1912.
During his studies at the Grodno Gymnasium, Jodkowski attended secret courses on the study of Polish history and literature, where he got acquainted with their organizer, famous writer Eliza Ozheshko. She encouraged Jodkowski’s activities and allowed to use her personal library. Ozheshko send him to Warsaw together with the recommendation letter. In Warsaw Jodkowski met Zygmunt Gloger, well-known Polish historian, archaeologist, geographer and ethnographer, Szymon Askenazy, Jewish-Polish historian, educator, statesman and diplomat, Aleksander Kraushar, Polish historian, advocate, poet and many other famous people. Jodkowski brought many books and journals from Warsaw.
From 1906 to 1910, Jodkowski cooperated with Nikolai Dikovsky, a priest of the St. Sophia Cathedral. Jodkowski owned an extensive library with old books and documents, some of which dated back to the 15th and 16th centuries. Some of the materials found there, Iodkovsky gave to Gloger. Jodkowski’s first article on regional history was published in 1906 in the journal “Dzienik Wilenski.”
In this period, Jodkowski joined Polish Socialist Party in Grodno, and was included into the list of “unreliable people.” As a result, he could be expelled from the gymnasium without the right to enter any other educational institution. Jodkowski’s parents sent him to study to Warsaw. In Warsaw, Jodkowski studied and worked at the Archaeological Museum, carrying out excavations in Berezhany, Lishkov, Drogichin, Tsidovichi, Gozha. Most of the items found become artifacts of the Warsaw Archaeological Museum.
Upon his graduation from the Moscow Archeological Institute in 1912, Jodkowski began to work at the Institute as a laboratory assistant. Soon, he was invited to work at the Rumyantsev Museum (Moscow), where studied the museum's funds, created catalogues, visited museums in Saint Petersburg, Warsaw, Novgorod and other Russian cities. There he found many historical and cultural artifacts that originated from the former Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth and were taken to Russia after its partition. He also found there items taken during the war of 1812 or the property of the confiscated estates for the participation in the uprisings of 1830, 1863. As a historian and patriot, Jodkowski decided to compile and publish a book in several volumes dedicated to Polish relics in Russia ("Pamatki polskie w Rosji"). He collected a lot of archival and factographic material, made more than a thousand photographs, drawings, sketches. Due to the lack of money, the book was not published.
In 1914, Moscow Archaeological Society sent its member Jodkowski to Grodno, Minsk and Vilna provinces as the custodian of old relics and monuments. There he also conducted archaeological works. In 1913-1914, Jodkowski visited Grodno, Lida, Kreva, Synkovichi, Suprasl, Mir and other settlements where he studied churches, castles, palaces.
During the World War I, Jodkowski was the leader of the evacuation point in Ares, then he worked in the Red Cross and in military logistics. He was demobilized in 1919, and returned to Grodno. Jodkowski took part in the creation of the Commission on historical and cultural preservation in Grodno province. He was appointed its executive secretary. Jodkowski suggested founding Grodno Museum already at the second meeting of the Commission. He proposed to locate it in the Old Castle, but the war began.
On July 19, 1920, Grodno was occupied. The day before the arrival of the Red Army, Józef Jodkowski, along with the engineer Herman, transported 10 large boxes with the most valuable exhibits to the station in Lososna, and afterwards he evacuated to Wloclawek and took all the boxes with him. Jodkowski voluntarily joined the Polish Army and participated in the war of 1920, for which he was awarded the Golden Cross of Merit. Jodkowski’s publications, as well as materials collected in Russia, helped Polish revision committee to demand the return of historical and cultural artifacts that had been exported from the territory of the former Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth at the time of the conclusion of the Riga Peace Treaty in 1921.
Jodkowski returned to Grodno after the war. He restarted the work of the Commission on historical and cultural monuments preservation in Grodno province. Its first meeting took place on September 17, 1921 after a 15-month break. Jodkowski had to found and collect the artifacts that were taken away. The return of previously evacuated boxes with valuable exhibits from Wloclawek wasn’t easy task, but he managed to do it. In order to get money for further work on protection of historical and cultural artifacts, Jodkowski suggested to organize an exhibition. He appealed to the citizens of Grodno with a request to take part in the exhibition and to show their artifacts of national history and culture stored at home. The exhibition entitled "Exhibition of the Region and Old Grodno" was launched on September 18, 1921. Even Josef Pilsudski and General Rydz-Śmigły visited the exhibition. Jodkowski also asked the citizens and local authorities to create a historical museum.
In June 1922, Józef Jodkowski founded historical museum in Grodno on the basis of collected exhibits. On December 9, 1922, the first museum exposition was organized. In 1924, Jodkowski managed to persuade the city authorities to provide the part of the Old Castle building as a State Museum (at that time there were located the House of Officers and a number of other military organizations). It took several years to restore the castle, strengthen the Castle Hill, and to create a new exposition of the Museum. The staff of the Museum consisted only of three people: the director Józef Jodkowski, the carpenter Nester Uleichik and a guard.
Jodkowski created the largest numismatic collection on the territory of northeastern voivodeships of the pre-war Poland, which included a number of very valuable and rare specimens. In 1931-1934, the edition “Numismatic and Archaeological News“ ("Wiadomosci Numizmatyczno-Archeologiczne") published a number of works by Jodkowski about found and handed over to the Grodno Museum treasures. By the beginning of the World War II, the Museum collection had more than 15,000 coins. Unfortunately, it has not survived until our days (apparently, the collection was lost during the war).
During floods, the river Neman concaved the high banks, threatening the buildings located on them. Once, this led to the collapse of one of the walls of the Kolozha Church. In 1928, in order to solve this problem, the Castle Curatorium was created. It was headed by the Grodno Commandant, General Kleberg, and the commission to strengthen the Castle Hill. In 1928-1929, stone embankment of the Neman river was built, and a beautiful new boulevard at the foot of the Castle Hill was created. All these works began in 1931 and were under direct supervision of Józef Jodkowski. In spring 1932, the stone ruins of ancient Grodno were discovered. At the same time, significant restoration work was carried out in the Old Castle, and an "underground museum" was created at the site of the excavations.
In 1930, Józef Jodkowski was awarded the Silver Cross for Merit "for his contribution to the archives." At the same time, Jodkowski was criticized by his famous colleagues, and in 1934, a special commission examined the results of excavations on the Castle Hill, and removed Jodkowski from their continuation. As a result of a new conflict with other archaeologists, provoked by the excavations on the territory of the Kolozha Church in 1935, Jodkowski left Grodno and moved to Warsaw in 1936. There he worked in the department of arts of the Royal Castle.
With the outbreak of World War II, and the shut-down of museums, Jodkowski began to work as the Head of the department of antique furniture in the company "Modern Interior." During the Warsaw Uprising of 1944, the manuscript of Jodkowski’s work describing Polish gold coins was destroyed. He was very ill at that time and didn’t manage to restore it. In October 1944, Jodkowski was sent to a concentration camp in Pruszkow. After his release he moved to Krakow.
After the war, Jodkowski actively engaged in the reconstruction of the losses, primarily in the field of numismatics. Since May 1945, he worked as a curator in the Numismatic cabinet of the National Museum in Warsaw. As a result of his work on describing the survived numismatic collections and comparing them with the collection of 1939 in 1948, he published the article “Numismatic cabinet. Department of medieval and modern coins” in the edition “Cultural losses of Warsaw.” The article described the losses in the numismatic part of the National Museum.
Jodkowski was actively engaged in public activities. In 1946, he revived and headed the Warsaw numismatic society. At the same time, he became the editor of the journal “Communiques of the Warsaw Numismatic Society” ("Komunikaty Warszawskiego Towarzystwa Numizmatycznego"), the first edition of which was published on August 10, 1948. He managed to publish 10 issues before his death in 1950.
Early medieval Grodno in the light of archaeological excavations at the old royal castle of Grodno in 1932 and 1933
1934
Other Work
Defensive temple Kolosha in Grodno
1936
Numismatic cabinet. Department of medieval and modern coins
Politics
In 1906-1910, Jodkowski joined Polish Socialist Party in Grodno, and was included into the list of “unreliable people.” As a result, he could be expelled from the gymnasium without the right to enter any other educational institution. Jodkowski’s parents sent him to study to Warsaw. During the Soviet-Polish war, he joined Polish army.
Membership
In 1946, he revived and headed the Warsaw numismatic society.
Moscow Archaeological Society
,
Russia
Warsaw numismatic society
,
Poland
Connections
Jodkowski and his wife Galina had a daughter Elżbieta.