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The last king - a patron of the arts

The reign of Stanisław August Poniatowski, last king of Poland-Lithuania, was full of contradictions. On the one hand he was submissive towards Russia, to whose support he owed his victory in the elections, and depended on the Czartoryski Familia; on the other he let Poland flourish culturally. His reign saw the publication of the works of history by Adam Naruszewicz, the satires and novels of Bishop Ignacy Krasicki, the launch of the national theatre (established by Wojciech Bogusławski). Warsaw, Poland's capital since the times of Sigismund III, became one of the centres of the Neo-Classical style, as exemplified by the king's residence at Łazienki. Michał Ogiński contributed to Diderot's famous Encyclopedia. The political writings of the times, by men of the Enlightenment like Stanisław Staszic and Hugo Kołłątaj, spread ideas which could be encountered in England or France. The Enlightenment period witnessed educational reform conducted under the supervision of what was the world's first modern ministry of education (created in 1773).

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