Paperweight

Human memory is unreliable, it is better to write down your thoughts so that they do not fly away. Writing is an art that is one of the milestones of human civilization.

All you need to write is a blank sheet of paper, a pen, ink (increasingly replaced by word processors, mice, etc.) and you can create the next national epic. To make it not too easy, the ink stains the sheets of paper, stains the fingers, but tissue paper can remedy this. Once we have dealt with the ink and stains, we sit down and "pour" our thoughts onto paper. We're sitting, we're writing with enthusiasm, and then someone walks in the room, opens the door, opens the window, and this treacherous wind blows the written and unwritten pages to the floor, mixing everything up. The poor creator had to pick them up, often on his knees, and his back hurts from sitting. When he has already collected the pages, it turns out that they are mixed up, and he forgot to number them and, to make matters worse, a few pages were forgotten during the collection and in fact they should be rewritten. Finally, we manage to put the written pages in order and we sit down to continue our work, and then someone comes in again on an urgent matter, someone opens the second window and again we have confetti from our written pages and we start collecting our written "golden thoughts" from the beginning. After a few such visits, we forget our own thoughts, discouragement creeps in, and because of such a small zephyr, some "epoch-making" work may not be created. And yet it was enough (with the exception of locking the doors and windows) to hold the blank and written pages with some heavy object, but not so heavy as to destroy the sheets of paper. Such an object is a paperweight, which is sometimes a small work of art in the form of a figurine, a plaque made of alabaster or glass, or other materials that are pleasing to the eye. They can also be very simple elements, such as various types of stones collected during trips to places sentimentally close to the collectors or related to the history of family or country. In this way, the paperweight became an indispensable desk equipment next to the inkwell, pounce pot, tissue paper, pen holder, lamp, and just like them, it took on different forms and shapes depending on the fashion prevailing in art at a given period. Paperweights, thanks to their form/shape and the material they are made of, complement the décor of the desk – those made of wood evoke the impression of warmth, those made of metal, especially precious metals, add majesty, and those made of glass or crystal, thanks to reflections, give the character of ephemerality like written thoughts. The most ordinary ones in the form of stones remind us of the places we have been to. They can also remind us of past centuries and events that determine our history and heritage.

The discussed paperweights from the collection of the Museum – Castle in Łańcut come from the collection of the Potocki family, belong to the latter category and come from places currently outside the country (Borderlands) related to the history of Polish. One of them is the paperweight with the inv. no. 3614MŁ in the shape of a lying stone cuboid with slightly rounded edges and a round brass handle mounted on the top on a stylized cartouche. From the same material is made an elongated plate attached to the stone with two studs and the inscription “Kijów- Złota Brama 1871” ("Kyiv – Golden Gate 1871").

This gate was one of the three entrance gates to medieval Kyiv. Its construction was initiated by Vladimir I and completed by Yaroslav the Wise, and the name "Golden" appeared in the middle of the eleventh century. The beginnings of existence and the gate itself is closely connected with the history of the state of Bolesław Chrobry (Poland). After the conquest of Kyiv in 1018, Bolesław symbolically striking the gate with his sword which was to slightly be chipped. Szczerbiec, as this is the name given to the sword, is currently kept in the Crown Treasury in the Wawel Royal Castle and is one of the most valuable artefacts of our history, being the only preserved insignia of the coronation of the Piast dynasty. The story of the sword, and indirectly of the Golden Gate in Kyiv, can be found in the Chronicle of Gaul Anonymous, Wincenty Kadłubek, and we follow Wikipedia to give a lesser-known description from the Chronicle of Greater Poland: "He was to receive a sword from an angel, with which he defeated all his opponents with divine help. This sword is kept in the treasury of the Cracow church to this day. Polish kings were in the habit of wearing it when they went on expeditions, and they always triumphed over the enemy with it. (...) King Bolesław's sword, given to him by an angel, is called Szczerbiec, because at the angel's call, when he arrived in Ruthenia, he was the first to strike the Golden Gate with it, which closes the Kyiv city. From this blow the sword suffered a small loss, which in Polish is called szczerba and hence the name Szczerbiec" (.)

Thanks to such inconspicuous objects such as this paperweight, the history of the nation and national identity are preserved.

• Kuczyński S.K.On O polskim mieczu koronacyjnym, Przegląd Historyczny, 52/3, 1961, pp. 562–577.

• Rokosz M., Legenda Szczerbca, "Studia Historyczne", R. XXXI, no. 1, 1988, pp. 3–21, ISSN 0025–1429.

• Marcin Biborski, Janusz Stępiński, Grzegorz Żabiński. Szczerbiec (The Jagged Sword) – The Coronation Sword of the Kings of Poland. "Gladius. Estudiossobrearmasantiguas, armamento, artemilitar y vida cultural enOriente y Occidente". XXXI, pp. 93-147, 2011. ISSN 0436-029X.

Przemysław Kucia