Andrzej Wawrzyniak (The Asia & Pacific Museum, Warsaw)

submitted: 7/26/94 (by mail)

Andrzej Michal Wawrzyniak
Director / Curator-in-Chief
The Asia and Pacific Museum
24, Solec Street
00-403 Warsaw, POLAND

phone: 29-67-24
FAX:   621-94-70

ANDRZEJ WAWRZYNIAK (widely nicknamed Andrzej "Nusantara" Wawrzyniak), 
sailor, diplomat, traveller in the East, and collectioner, is the 
founder, life-time director and curator of the Asia and Pacific Museum in 
Warsaw.

Born December 3rd, 1931, in Warsaw, at 16 he boarded the full-rigged 
school ship "Dar Pomorza." Since then, he sailed on board of 12 ships and 
moved up from deck boy to the rank of merchant marine officer. He reached 
Asia at 18, to be closely bound up with it ever since. In 1991, he 
celebrated a quarter of century of his work in Asia.

He studies, still working on ship, and graduated from the Diplomatic 
Faculty of the School of Foreign Service in Warsaw; then continued to 
study at the Maritime Faculty of the School of Economics in Sopot; and 
concluded his postgraduate studies at the School of Social Sciences in 
Warsaw.

He joined Polish Foreign Service in 1956, and was promoted to the rank of 
Minister Plenipotentiary in 1973.

He was Department Chief at the Headquarters of the Polish Delegation to 
the International Commission of Supervision and Control in Vietnam, 
1956-1960; Cultural Attache of the Polish Embassy in Indonesia, 
1961-1965; Deputy Head of the Mission and Charge d'Affaires of Poland in 
indonesia, 1967-1971; Head of the Polish Delegation to the International 
Commission of Control and Supervision in Laos, 1973-1974; Head of the 
Polish Embassy in the Kingdom of Nepal, 1977-1981; UN International 
observer of the elections in Namibia, 1989; Head of the Polish Embassy in 
Afghanistan, 1990-1993. In 1994, the Government of the Democratic 
Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka designated him to be Honorary Consul 
General of Sri Lanka in Poland.

Andrzej Wawrzyniak's many travels and his collectioner's passion resulted 
in his accumulating a rich collection of Asian artifacts and works of 
art, especially from Indonesia; it was described by Professor Stanislaw 
Lorentz as "the greatest private collection of Indonesiana, exceeding 
i.a. all known Dutch private collections recognized as the world's 
biggest ones in that field." Andrzej Wawrzyniak has donated his 
collection to the State of Poland; on the basis of it the Museum of the 
Nusantara Archipelago was founded, soon after to be renamed the Asia and 
Pacific Museum in Warsaw. It remains the only Polish State institution of 
the kind, to serve promotion of knowledge and research of the cultural 
heritage of the nations of Asia, native Australia and Oceania.

Within the relatively short period of the 21 years' existence of the 
Museum, more than 400 exhibitions have been shown not only at its two 
galleries in Warsaw, but also in tens of other towns in Poland and in 
Afghanistan, China, Germany, India, Indonesia, Nepal, Pakistan, Papua New 
Guinea, Russia, Sri Lanka, Sweden, Tahiti, Thailand, and Vietnam.

Andrzej Wawrzyniak is a recognized authority, both at home and abroad, in 
the filed of Oriental Studies. He was visiting professor at some Asian 
universities. His articles have been published in learned periodicals of 
world circulation. He is one of the few practitioners honoured with the 
membership of the Polish Academy of Sciences, Oriental Committee, and 
Committee for Asian, African and Latin American Research. He has been the 
chairman of the editorial board of the "Orient" yearbook; member of the 
editorial council of "Acta Asiatica" of the Polish Academy of Sciences; 
consultant on Asian subjects for a number of state institutions; 
co-founder and Vice President of the NGO International Association of 
Angkor Vat Friends; and a member of the Polish National Committee for the 
UNESCO.

He has been active, for many years, in the movement of friendship with 
the nations of Asia and Australia; founder and long-time President of the 
Polish-Nepalese Friendship Association; a member of the International 
Relations Club; and many other associations.

He has been awarded the prestigious Prize of Warsaw; the Officer's Cross 
of the Polonia Restituta Order; and other Polish and foreign decorations.