European Identity and Polish Culture – Tomasz Mikocki’s Studies on the Tradition of Ancient Art

Tomasz Mikocki’s studies on the tradition of ancient art in Poland played a very important role in his scientific research. Professor Mikocki was convinced that the art and culture of antiquity was one of the elements of searching Polish identity, simultaneously confirming an affiliation to the same cultural sphere as Italy, France or Great Britain, the direct heirs of the Imperium Romanum. Therefore, his main aim was to study and publish the media of reception of antique forms and models in Polish art and culture. Eventually, he analysed different aspects of this phenomenon, primarily travels and collections of original Graeco-Roman antiquities and antiquelike artefacts, finally the decorative programme of the entire park-and-residence complexes, where Antiquity had an eminent meaning.