How King Stanisław August Sold Thrones

Abstract

After his abdication in 1795 King Stanisław August sold or gave away a considerable part of his collections and furniture from the Warsaw Castle. The author reminds, after sources from the archives, the history of the royal thrones. On the basis of the King's correspondence with his close collaborators he describes an attempt at selling in 1796 the thrones from the Senators' Hall and the Perpetual Council Hall to a high-ranking Russian dignitary, Nikolai Repnin. The transaction fell through. What happened to the throne from the Senators' Hall after 1796 is not known.