Józef Sermak

Józef Sermak (appr. 1834-1874) was born in Lviv and studied law at the Francis I University. He worked as a lawyer in Przemyśl and, from 1867, in Lviv, where he also became a member of the City Council and many societies. In 1865-1874, he collaborated with conservator Mieczysław Potocki as a correspondent of the Central Commission for the Protection of Monuments.

This biogram is part of a publication about the beginnings of monument conservation in Eastern Galicia and focuses on Józef Sermak's activity as a monument conservator, which was not central in his life. Above all, these texts consider the following questions: who were the first to join the official conservation of monuments in Lviv? How did they arrive at this decision and under what conditions? What was the ethnic and national, professional and institutional background of these persons and what impact did it have on their monument conservation activities?

Six correspondents of the Central Commission for Research and Protection of Architectural Monuments in the 1860s and 1870s — Ivan Stupnytskyi, Wincenty Pol, Józef Sermak, Leonard Horodyski, Kazimierz Stadnicki, Antoni Schneider — were appointed through Mieczysław Potocki, a conservator of monuments whom they assisted. The seventh biogram, that of Stanisław Kunasiewicz, concerns a person who, despite the efforts made for his official appointment, never received it.

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When Mieczysław Potocki appealed in 1865 to the Galician Agricultural Society, one of the few active associations in the province, he hoped that the Society's members would help him in his search for ancient monuments. The appeal was reprinted in newspapers, in particular in the Gazeta Narodowa (Lviv) and the Czas (Kraków). A dozen people responded, but Józef Sermak became the only one with whom long-term cooperation was established in this way.

While living in Przemyśl, Józef Sermak observed the ruins of the ancient castle, dating back to princely times, and vainly tried to organize conservation works there. He saw Mieczysław Potocki's appeal, when he was disappointed by the continuing lack of progress in this case. Hoping that the intervention of an official conservator might help, he wrote a letter to Potocki. The conservator launched an active correspondence with the magistrate of Przemyśl, trying to convince the latter of the importance of preserving this monument, and appointed Sermak as his representative, who should supervise the progress of the restoration works (CDIAL 616/1/2:73). Shortly, however, Józef Sermak moved his law practice to Lviv. In February 1866, Mieczysław Potocki submitted his candidacy to the Central Commission for the Protection of Monuments, and in July Sermak was officially appointed as a correspondent in Lviv (CDIAL 616/1/4:16-17, 127). The conservator informed his current correspondent, Ivan Stupnytsky, that they now had a new assistant, and asked Sermak to contact Stupnytskyi (CDIAL 616/1/4:130-131, 616/1/3:10). Since Potocki did not live in Lviv, the presence of collaborators to whom he could delegate tasks in the city was absolutely necessary.

Józef Sermak continued the first restoration projects that had been started in Lviv: tombstones in the Latin Cathedral, portraits on the Boim chapel façade, a bronze statue of Archangel Michael from the Royal Arsenal, alabaster tombstones of knights in the dungeons of the Dominican church. Not an expert in the fields of either history or art, Sermak, like Mieczysław Potocki, engaged in organization and negotiations, listened to the opinions of those who had more expertise, and also followed the conservator's instructions to the letter. Tombstones in the Dominican church turned out to be the largest and most difficult project, raising funds for the implementation of which was a failure. Sermak invested his own money in this project and this became the cause of a series of misunderstandings, personal conflicts and disappointments in the late 1860s.

Józef Sermak was a member of several societies, including the Agricultural Society (Towarzystwo Gospodarskie), the Society of Fine Arts Supporters (Towarzystwo przyjaciół sztuk pięknych) in Kraków, and the Chamber of Advocates (Izba adwokatska) in Lviv. As a member of the City Council in Lviv, he worked, in particular, in Section 3, which dealt with construction matters in the city. Sermak was a liaison between the conservator Potocki and the City Council and the magistrate.

Józef Sermak died prematurely of a heart attack in 1874. Lviv newspapers wrote about the death of a "good Pole" and citizen who always took care of public good. In Lviv, he lived at ul. Halycka, 46 (now vul. Kniazia Romana, 26), being the owner of this house in 1866-1874.