ANDRZEJ FISCHINGER 1928 - 2005

Andrzej Fischinger worked for 50 years in the Royal Collection at Wawel. He began his work while he was still a student of art history at the Jagiellonian University. At first, from 1948, he worked in the Educational Section, and later became the curator of the Crown Treasure and Goldsmithing Section, and later the head cataloguer. In 1990, he assumed the function of vicedirector and the function of conservator at Wawel. He fulfilled these duties until his retirement in 1997, but even after that he watched over the progress of renovation work, which was being carried out according to his program. Thanks to him, a full renovation of the cathedral and castle on Wawel were completed. Fischinger felt that conservation must be done in its entirety, based on multi-dimensional scientific research, under the watch of artists and society in a fight to preserve national heritage, as opposed to superficial and shoddy reconstruction. He treated his work as a kind of mission which he fulfilled all his life. In Fischinger’s rich legacy, issues of cataloging and conservation occupy prominent places. His achievements were recognized and appreciated. He received the Knight’s Cross, the Officer’s Cross, and the Commodore’s Cross of the Rebirth of Poland, and many other orders and awards. He was active in the Public Committee for the Restoration of Krakow’s Historic Sites, the Commission of Art History in the Polish Academy of Science, the Polish Academy of Skills, the Association of Lovers of Krakow, and the Association of Art Historians, in whose Head Administration he fulfilled the function of vice-president several times. He was also active in Solidarity. After the illegalization of the labor union during Marshall Law, he made his apartment available for conspiratorial gatherings. Andrzej Fischinger died on the 18th of June, 2005.