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Primary sourceArtifactlate 18th century

Sabre of Tadeusz Kościuszko

late 18th century

A photograph of Kościuszko's own French sabre from the late 18th century, preserved in the Czartoryski collections at Puławy.

This sabre belonged personally to Kościuszko and is preserved as a national relic of his military life.

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A curved sabre with a dark metal hilt and guard, displayed upright on a stand inside a museum glass case. Behind it hang paintings of portraits and a landscape, with a bronze medallion of Kościuszko in the foreground.
Kościuszko's sabre, France, late 18th century. Czartoryski collections, Puławy.

About this source

What it is

This photograph shows a curved French sabre from the late 18th century that belonged to Tadeusz Kościuszko. It is displayed at the Czartoryski collections at Puławy, kept as a national relic alongside portraits and a medallion of him.

Why it matters

Personal weapons like this sabre were treasured by collectors and families as direct physical links to historical figures. Kept by the Czartoryski family, this object became part of how Poles preserved the memory of Kościuszko as a military hero and national symbol after his death.

Look closer

  • Why might a family or museum choose to display a personal weapon alongside portraits and medallions?
  • What does the careful preservation of this sabre tell you about how Kościuszko was remembered in Poland?
  • What can an object like a sabre tell you about a person's life that a portrait or document cannot?

This artifact is part of the curated material that grounds the AI version of Tadeusz Kościuszko on Humy.ai — when students ask about related events, the AI can quote it and cite it.

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Printed broadside proclamation headed 'RADA NAYWYZSZA NARODOWA' with the name Tadeusz Kosciuszko in large capitals, dated Warsaw 30 Maja 1794, in Polish, printed in two columns on aged paper with a signature and seal mark at the bottom.Document

Primary source

Proclamation of Połaniec

Tadeusz Kościuszko · 7 May 1794 (this printing 30 May 1794)

Oil painting of a young man with curly brown hair in a dark coat and white cravat, reclining on a green day bed with one hand raised to his head. Red curtains frame a window showing a domed building. A desk with papers and an inkstand is at left, and a red book and letters lie on the bed.Painting

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General Thaddeus Kosciusko

Benjamin West · 1797

Oil painting of a man with dark, tousled hair in a dark coat over a blue sash, with a white collar and black cravat, looking toward the viewer against a grey-brown background.Painting

Primary source

Portrait of Tadeusz Kościuszko

Józef Grassi · c. 1792

Stone wall ruins of Fort Putnam at West Point with black cannons mounted on a stone parapet, a wooded mountain range under a hazy sky behind, and metal railings in the foreground.Artifact

Primary source

Fort Putnam

1778

Handwritten manuscript page in Polish, dark ink on aged paper, with an ornate title reading 'Ustawa Rządowa' and the opening invocation 'W Imię Boga w Trójcy Świętey Jedynego', followed by a list of royal titles and body text in cursive. A handwritten date notation appears at top right.Document

Primary source

Constitution of May 3, 1791

3 May 1791

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