Zbiory przyrodnicze Muzeum i Instytutu Zoologii PAN; świadectwo polskiego wkładu w rozwój światowych badań nad bioróżnorodnością prowadzonych od początku XIX wieku

The history of the collection of contemporary animals of the Museum and Institute of Zoology PAS dates back to the second half of the 18th century. The oldest specimens come from the collection of Sylwiusz Munkwitz, which became the foundation of the assemblage of the Zoological Cabinet of the University of Warsaw (1818-1919). During the hundred years of its existence, this institution has gathered the largest zoological collection of scientific nature in Poland and one of the largest in Europe. The circle of people who cultivated natural science traditions included both (1) explorers of terrain, discoverers of species new to science and (2) naturalists who marked out new directions and regions of research, (3) patrons of Polish science who supported the creation and maintenance of valuable natural history collections, as well as (4) exiles and emigrants who served Polish science in distant parts of the world. Despite invaders repressions against the Zoological Cabinet of the University of Warsaw, naturalists gathered around the Branicki Museum continued their exploratory and museum activities as of 1887. The collections of both institutions became in 1919 the cornerstone of zoological collections of the National Museum of Natural History, whose successor, through the Polish State Museum of Natural History and the State Zoological Museum, is currently the Museum and Institute of Zoology PAS. Created with dedication and expertise, the collections include specimens representing thousands of species (including descriptive types) found on all continents of the world. For many years, they have been serving science, education and popularization of natural knowledge. The turbulent history of Poland, especially the Second World War, was not favorable for the development of the collection. Specimens were destroyed, confiscated and exported; many of them dispersed. After the war, collecting, cataloguing and disseminating knowledge about museum resources was resumed. Information on thousands of specimens is now linked in one coherent system. It enables the presentation of the collections in a digital form that reaches a wide audience.