Final of the “Collective Portrait of a Century” Competition at the Palace of the Commonwealth
On Monday, 22 June 2026, the ceremonial final of the “Collective Portrait of a Century” competition was held at the Palace of the Commonwealth, the seat of the National Library at 3/5 Krasińskich Square in Warsaw. The competition, organised by the KARTA Center Foundation, was announced in December 2025 in connection with the upcoming 100th anniversary of the creation of the Declaration of Admiration and Friendship for the United States. It brought together youth teams that undertook the task of reading the history recorded in the signatures placed on the Declaration one hundred years ago and connecting it with family, local, and social memory. The National Library is a partner of the competition.
Using the Polska1926.pl portal, participants searched for signatures of people connected with their families or localities, and then reconstructed their stories on the basis of archival sources, family mementos, and local accounts.
Five teams presented their work in the final: from Brodnica, Drużbice, Kiekrz, Lubliniec, and Wieruszów. Their projects showed that even a single signature from one hundred years ago can become the beginning of a story about people, communities, and memory. The winning entry was A Man of Many Talents – the Story of Józef Gorgosz, prepared by a team from Primary School No. 4 named after the 74th Upper Silesian Infantry Regiment in Lubliniec. Its authors, together with their supervisor, will travel to Washington, D.C., where they will, among other things, see the original Declaration at the Library of Congress. This exceptional document – a letter from the Polish nation to the American nation on the occasion of the 150th anniversary of the United States Declaration of Independence – is an expression of gratitude and friendship.
In awarding the main prize to the team from Lubliniec, the competition jury emphasised that “the work reconstructed the life of an extraordinary craftsman, self-taught artist, and visionary whose name appears on the pages of the Declaration. The story – presented as a film generated with the help of AI tools, including the animation of original photographs – traces his life from his wartime service in Scotland, where he created his first mahogany sculptures, through the post-war reconstruction of Lubliniec and the building of his own house, to the patenting of an innovative grain-bagging machine. The jury appreciated the thorough archival research, the use of unique family mementos, and the presentation of the protagonist as a multidimensional figure whose passion and diligence became the foundation of a family relay of talents.”
The event at the Palace of the Commonwealth was an opportunity for young history researchers to meet and to highlight the importance of archives in discovering and preserving local heritage. The finalists and invited guests were also able to tour the Palace and see the treasures of the National Library presented in the permanent exhibition.
All finalist projects can be viewed on the karta.org.pl website. The competition is funded by the Polish-American Freedom Foundation as part of the “Learning School” programme.