Józef Maksymilian Ossoliński

Count Józef Maksymilian Ossoliński (1748 – 17 March 1826) was a Polish literature and art historian, nobleman, politician, writer, researcher of literature, and founder of the Ossoliński Institute.

Józef was a member of many learned institutions, such as the Society of Friends of Science, Warsaw Scientific Society, the Wilno Academy, the Kraków Academy, the Royal Societies in Prague and Göttingen, the Imperial Royal Society in Vienna, and a doctor honoris causa of the Jagiellonian University. One of the first Polish politicians in Galicia. He took on Austrian citizenship when he became prefect of the Imperial library in 1793 in Vienna. The "Gräfliche Ossolinskische Bibliothekar" Samuel Gottlieb Linde worked at Ossolinski's library until 1803. In 1817 Ossolinski donated all of his archives, valuable collections of books, manuscripts and museum pieces to "the Polish nation" and founded the Ossolineum in Lwów.