Emergence, transformation, maintenance. Private collections open to the public from the 18th century to the present day.

Conference programme.

THURSDAY, MAY 29
Venue: Collegium Maius, Adam Mickiewicz University

9.00 Registration
9.30 Conference opening

10.00-10.45 Keynote lecture: Mary Anne Staniszewski (Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, New York)

10.45-12.30 PANEL I: Collector’s Vision
Chair: Michał Mencfel (Faculty of Art Studies, Adam Mickiewicz University)

Renske Cohen Tervaert (Kröller-Müller Museum, Otterlo)
'I hope to set an example for the future’. The implementation of Helene Kröller-Müller’s ideas and a future-proof Kröller-Müller Museum, 1935-2025

Agnieszka Kluczewska-Wójcik (Polish Institute of World Art Studies)
Feliks Jasieński’s Museum – a vision for Polish art

Guido Scholten (Liberna Collection, Draiflessen Collection, Mettingen)
From London to Mettingen: how the Liberna Collection found its home in a small village of Tüötten merchants

Magdalena Białonowska (Royal Castle in Warsaw - Museum / Institute of Art History, Cardinal Stefan Wyszyński University in Warsaw)
Collection without a Collector. Foundation without a Founder. A decade of activity of the Ciechanowiecki Collection Foundation (2015–2025)

DISCUSSION
COFFEE BREAK

12.45-14.30 PANEL II: Private Collections in Central European Museums
Chair: Kamila Kłudkiewicz (Faculty of Art Studies, Adam Mickiewicz University)

Andrea Gáldy (Collecting Central Europe/Ludwig Maximilian University, Munich)
From the Private Kunstkammer to the Public Museum: Issues of Access and Display

Cristina Moraru (National University of Arts George Enescu, Iași)
The Evolution of Private Collections in Public Institutions: A Case Study on the Zambaccian Collection

Renata Komić Marn (ZRC SAZU Research Centre of the Slovenian Academy of Sciences and Arts)
Between Home and Public Space: The Strahl and Attems Collections and their Role in the Development of Museum Activity in Carniola and Styria

Tina Košak (ZRC SAZU Research Centre of the Slovenian Academy of Sciences and Arts)
Three Castle Collections of the Counts of Herberstein Open to the Public

DISCUSSION
LUNCH BREAK

15.45-17.00 PANEL III: Engaging the Present. Curating and Managing Private Collections in Public Museums
Chair: Martyna Łukasiewicz de Espinosa (National Museum in Poznań)

Elisabetta Maistri (Eccel Kreuzer Museum, Bolzano)
Retrospectively Moving Forward: Beyond the Vision of Judge Josef Kreuzer for a Museum Display of Twentieth-Century Tyrolean Art at the Eccel Kreuzer Museum in Bolzano

Sylvie Carlier (Musée Marmottan Monet, Paris)
Musée Marmottan: a collector’s museum from Empire to Impressionism. Paul Marmottan’s bequest to Académie des beaux-arts (Institut de France) in 1932. A peculiar destiny

Jennifer Scott (Dulwich Picture Gallery, London)
Does old art matter? Unlocking the creativity of the past

DISCUSSION
COFFEE BREAK

17.15-18.30 PANEL IV: Rethinking Collections. Contemporary Research Challenges
Chair: Ewa Manikowska (Institute of Art of the Polish Academy of Sciences, Warsaw)

Stijn Alsteens (Fondation Custodia - Collection Frits Lugt, Paris)
The House of Lugt – Art and Art History as the Legacy of a Dutch Collector and Connoisseur

Gertrud Oelsner (Ordrupgaard Museum, Copenhagen)
Collecting the Danish Canon – and beyond

Anna Ziemlewska (Museum of King Jan III's Palace at Wilanów)
Museum of King Jan III's Palace at Wilanów – postwar history and contemporary challenges
DISCUSSION

FRIDAY, MAY 30
Venue: Picture Gallery, Rogalin Palace

9.45 Opening
10.00-10.45 Keynote lecture: Anne Higonnet (Columbia University, New York)

10.45-12.00 PANEL I: Shaping the Future of Heritage. Transferring Collections to the State
Chair: Thor J. Mednick (Department of Art, University of Toledo, Ohio)

Clara Marcellán Fernández (Museo Nacional Thyssen-Bornemisza, Madrid)
A permanent home, an extended family: the Museo Nacional Thyssen-Bornemisza in Madrid

Veronika Rudorfer (Academy of Fine Arts, Vienna)
From Heinz Berggruen's collection to Museum Berggruen

Tomáš Valeš, Jan Galeta (Masaryk University, Brno)
From Private Hands for the Benefit of the Public—the Role of the Local Elite of the Bohemian Lands in the Establishment of Art Collections

DISCUSSION
COFFEE BREAK

12.15-13.30 PANEL II: Private Collections within Public Institutions: General Overview
Chair: Camilla Murgia (Faculty of Art Studies, Adam Mickiewicz University)

Benjamin Spira (Lindenau-Museum, Altenburg)
Bernhard August von Lindenau – his vision and legacy. A brief overview in the context of other museum founders of that period in German

John Chu (National Trust, London)
The Public Country House in 21st-Century Britain

Ewa Manikowska (Institute of Art of the Polish Academy of Sciences, Warsaw)
Private Collecting in Poland. A Distorted Tradition

DISCUSSION
CLOSING REMARKS