Eustachy Tyszkiewicz

Count Eustachy Tyszkiewicz, Leliwa coat of arms, (18 April 1814 – 27 August 1873) was a Polish noble from the Tyszkiewicz family. He was an archaeologist and historian of the former Grand Duchy of Lithuania and White Ruthenia, then part of the Russian Empire. He is considered the first archaeologist to have undertaken a systematic study of historical sites in Belarus and Lithuania, and was highly influential on succeeding generations of archaeologists. In 1855 he founded the Museum of Antiquities in Vilnius (Vilna, Wilno), which is regarded as the predecessor institution of the National Museum of Lithuania. He donated his personal collection of archaeological and historical artifacts to start the museum. He was a younger brother of historian Konstanty Tyszkiewicz. Biography According to his memoirs, Tyszkiewicz was born in Minsk, not in Lahoysk, as researchers believe. Tyszkiewicz was the younger son of Pius Tyszkiewicz and his wife, Augusta, née Plater-Broel. He spent his childhood on the family estate in Lahoysk. He began his secondary schooling at the Vilnius Gymnasium, but due to poor health he transferred to Minsk. Two years after graduation, he began his career in government service in 1833 in the Chapter of Imperial Orders of Knighthood. At the same time, (1833-34) he began collecting archival material on the literature and history of the Commonwealth of Poland-Lithuania from sources in Moscow and Saint Petersburg. He then held a series of government posts in various locations: at the office of the Vilna Governorate-General (1835–1838), the Kraków Governorate (1838–1840), and (1840). He became a school inspector of the Barysaw District and marshal of the Polish-Lithuanian nobility (1842–1848), then governor of the (1848–1854). In 1853 he was appointed overseer of the Vilnius psychiatric hospital. He held the roles of collegiate assessor and kammerjunker. In May 1855, Tsar Alexander II of Russia approved the creation by Tyszkiewicz of the Vilnius Archaeological Commission and of the Museum of Antiquities. The initial museum collection consisted of about 6,000 items gifted by Tyszkiewicz from his personal collection – more than half of the items were books, while other items were coins, medals, portraits, engravings and historical artefacts. Tyszkiewicz chaired the commission and curated the museum until it was nationalised and reorganised after the failed Polish Uprising of 1863.