Summary

The Polish library collections, due to plunder, wars and natural disasters were considerably decimated. They suffered serious losses during the Swedish wars, when precious private and monastic collections were taken to Uppsala. Kiev was also one of the cities where Polish book collections were deposited in the 19th Century. After the defeat of November Rising, the following collections were transferred to Kiev: a very valuable library of Krzemieniec Grammar School, which included the collections belonging to King Stanislaus August; the Libraries of Vilno University and of the Medical and Surgical School, and many other collections. The Polish collections became the basis of the Library of St Vladimir Imperial University because as many as 90% of the collections of that library came from the territory of former Poland.