Konstanty Branicki

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Portrait, c. 1852

Count Konstanty Grzegorz Branicki (9 May 1824 – 14 July 1884) was a Polish landowner, collector and naturalist who established a private museum of natural history in Warsaw. The bird species Heliodoxa branickii and Odontorchilus branickii described from his collections were named after him.

Branicki was born in Biała Cerkiew, the son of (1783–1843) and Róża. He was born at time when Tsarist Russian intelligence watched over his family and considered them as potential enemies. He then took an interest in travel and natural history along with his brother Aleksander. The travelled to Egypt and Nubia in 1863. Another trip was made in 1866 to Algeria with Władysław Taczanowski and Antoni Stanisław Waga The two established a private zoological museum in 1887, financing expeditions into Ussri 1883-1885, to Korea and Japan (1885-1887) and Peru (1881-1902). Later they paid for collectors including Benedykt Dybowski, Konstanty Jelski and Jan Sztolcman, and others.[1] He also took an interest in archaeology and undertook excavations around Mironowski, many of the findings are now in the Krakow archaeological museum. The Branicki museum was later managed by his son Ksawery Branicki (1864–1926) in Warsaw, it became part of the state museum in 1919 and in 1928 became part of the State Zoological Museum.[2]

Branicki was married to Jadwiga Potocka and they had a daughter Róża Maria Branicka and a son Ksawery (also given as Xavier) Branicki who was also a naturalist and collector.

References[]

  1. ^ Rejt, Lukasz; Mazgajski, Tomasz D. (2002). "The bird collection in the Museum and Institute of Zoolgoy" (PDF). Bonner Zoologische Beiträge. 51: 151–152.
  2. ^ Mierzwa-Szymkowiak, D.; Breure, A. S. H. (2017). "Inside and outside the Neotropics: three Polish naturalists during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries". Archives of Natural History. 44 (1): 151–158. doi:10.3366/anh.2017.0423. ISSN 0260-9541.
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