The foundation Ossolineum was created in 1817 by Józef Maksymilian Ossoliński (1748-1826) in Lvov. By the will of the founder, the foundation was to consist of collections of books, manuscripts, numismatics and museum exhibits, offered by J. M. Ossoliński and lands to maintain the printing house. Ossolineum was also to publish its own scientific journal and take care of the young scientists.After World War II the borders changed and Lvov was not in Poland anymore. In 1944, a part of the collection was transported from Lvov - almost 11000 old prints, pictures, diplomas and manuscripts (the manuscript of “Pan Tadeusz”). The collections, hidden in Lower Silesia near Złotoryja, were transported to Wrocław in 1947. In the years 1946-1947 a a part of the collection as given to Wrocław as “a gift of the Ukrainian nation to the Polish nation”. 217450 volumes were transported from Lvov, including 7068 manuscripts and 41505 old prints. It is estimated that around 70% of the collections remained in Lvov.