A modern tool for quickly and effectively obtaining information on the Polish cultural heritage abroad has been launched. The POLONIKA Institute’s portal “Heritage Abroad. Database of Polonica” contains more than 43,000 records of objects located in 58 countries, including illustrated and described material traces of Polish cultural heritage abroad and documentation of civil and war cemeteries, as well as gravestone cards with information on the buried persons.

In addition to being able to record and disseminate knowledge about Polish cultural heritage, documentation on Polish memorabilia has also been made available, providing a source of knowledge for researchers and history enthusiasts as well as those exploring family genealogies.

The database is located at: https://baza.polonika.pl/ and consists of three catalogues. The first includes documentation of tombstones and Polish cemeteries abroad, the result of work carried out since the 1990s. The second is Polonica, i.e. richly illustrated and described material traces of cultural heritage abroad of a popular science nature, based on information from the area of history, art and culture. Finally, the third is War Cemeteries Abroad. This is a catalogue maintained by the Department of Cultural Heritage and Memorials in the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage, which was compiled on the basis of material collected by the Council for the Protection of Remembrance of Combat and Martyrdom. It contains information on the history or location of wartime necropolises. An additional element of the catalogue is a list of people buried in the cemeteries.

The National Institute of Polish Cultural Heritage Abroad POLONIKA is a specialised state cultural institution which focuses its activities on three areas: research, protection and popularisation of Polish cultural heritage abroad.

Adrian Andrzejewski