Piotr Gliński made the statement at a ceremony to mark 275 years of the National Library combined with the unveiling of its revamped reading rooms, the state PAP news agency reported.
“This institution symbolises the fortunes of the Polish people, including in its dramatic moments, but also because it has maintained the continuity of Polish identity and culture, which to us, as a community, matters the most,” Gliński told the gathering.
Gliński, who is also Poland’s minister for culture and national heritage, said that after the failed Polish uprising of 1794 against the Russians, the National Library was “plundered” as “everything was taken to St. Petersburg and only partly recovered following the 1921 Peace of Riga" with Soviet Russia.
Then, in the wake of the 1944 Warsaw Uprising against the Nazis, Poland's German occupiers deliberately burnt down parts of the National Library,” he added.
In this way, “the fortunes of the library reflect the fortunes of Poland, and also the durability and vitality of its culture, and the hard work put into looking after Polish culture,” Gliński told those at the ceremony.
Messages from president, PM
To celebrate the National Library’s anniversary and modernisation, Poland’s President Andrzej Duda and Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki issued special messages, which were read out during Thursday’s ceremony.
The president voiced his gratitude and appreciation “of all the people and institutions which contributed to the overhaul" of the National Library.
“The National Library plays a hugely important role in cultivating the heritage and identity of our community, and in the dissemination of knowledge,” Duda said in his message.
Morawiecki, meanwhile, expressed the hope that “great ideas will be born" in the new reading rooms, "and consequently new works, which will add to the Polish intellectual canon, meticulously nurtured in the National Library.”
The institution will reopen its doors to the public on February 24, public broadcaster Polish Radio's IAR news agency reported.
(pm/gs)
Source: PAP, IAR