This stunning Baroque palace complex on the Odra riverbank was rebuilt to its late 17th century designs after being damaged heavily during the war and is today one of the most outstanding works of Baroque architecture in Poland. Originally a hospital and convent, later a college, today the magnificent grounds are home to the Ossolineum Library - an important research centre and national archive, the country's oldest still-running publishing centre and one of its largest library collections. Established in 1817 by Józef Maksymilian Ossoliński when he began collecting Polish manuscripts and cultural documents in his Vienna flat, recognising their importance to national culture after Poland was wiped from the world map, Ossoliński's private library became a national institute and was eventually moved to L'viv where it expanded generously. After post-war border changes the collection was forced to move to Wrocław, however communist authorities confiscated over 80% of it which presumably remains in L'viv today. The collections of the Ossolineum are some of the most valuable in the country and include manuscripts by Polish bards Adam Mickiewicz and Juliusz Słowacki, writings by Copernicus, and drawings by Rembrandt and Durer. The site of regular exhibitions, often free, the Ossolineum is otherwise worth a look around for the building itself, with the library and inner and outer courtyards all accessible to the public.

The Ossolineum or Zakład Narodowy im. Ossolińskich was one of the most important Polish culture centres, since it had an extremely rich library collection, which was the second in the country when it comes to its size after the Jagiellonian Library. Incomes form the land estates of its founder, managed for life by its curators, became the livelihood of the Institute.

Since the foundation of the department and up to 1945, the National Ossoliński Institute was located in a former cloister and in the Church of the Calced Carmelite Nuns on 2 Ossolińscy Street . After the dissolution of many cloisters by the Austrian emperor, the cloister building fell into ruin. The restoration of the building was the work of Józef Bem. In the Museum Lubomirskich was attached to the Ossoliński Institute, which was established by prince Henryk Lubomirski.

Ossolineum in was under Austrian rule concentrating the Polish intellectual movement and was one of the most important centres of Polish culture in the annexation and Germanization. During that time there were many persecutions in the form of police searches and arrests of employees of the centre.

In accordance with the intention of its founder it became one of the most important research centres on history and Polish literature due to the fact that it manages one of the biggest book collections in Poland as well as a large collection of manuscripts and autographs in which there are medieval manuscripts and oldest prints.

Smaller archives and book collections are also in Ossolineum: Jabłonowski, Poniński, Pawlikowski, Skarbek, Sapieha, Lubomirski, Mniszek.

The library has national character i.e. the Polish department is the biggest and it attempts to complete the whole Polish scientific and literary oeuvre. Ossolineum is the owner of manuscripts of the foremost Polish writers and poets.

Before the Second World War the Ossolineum library consisted of 220,000 works, over 6,000 manuscripts, over 9,000 autographs, over 2 ,000 diplomas and over 3,000 maps (the collection of J.M.Ossoliński from the year 1827 included 10,121 works, 19,055 volumes, duplicates, 567 manuscripts in 715 volumes, 133 maps, 1,445 figures). Ossolineum had also the biggest in Poland, complete collection of Polish press from 19th and 20th centuries. In his last testament, the founder, Józef Maksymilian Ossoliński named members of Ossoliński family to hold the post of economic curatorship and in striving to maintain the continuity of the Institute mentioned 28 notable Polish families among whom a successor could be chosen in case if his own family died out.

After the seizure of Lviv by the in September , the Ossolineum was closed down and its library holdings were absorbed by the Lviv Branch of the Academy of Sciences of the Ukrainian SSR. The Lubomirski Museum's collection was distributed among various Lviv museums managed by the Ukrainians. During the German occupation of Lviv (from 29 June to 27 July ), the Ossolineum library was incorporated into the structure of the German Staatsbibilothek Lemberg. After another seizure of Lviv by the Soviet army, from August this library functioned as a so-called Polish Sector of Lviv Sciences Institute's library.

At the beginning of 1944 the German government decided to move not only the collection of Lviv’s library, but also university and polytechnic library and .

According to German orders two transports, which were prepared by professor Mieczysław Gębarowicz, who was managing Ossolineum during the war, were supposed to include only German specialized literature and a reference book collection of the main reading room. However, it also consisted of the most valuable and carefully selected special collections and Ossolineum’s cimelias. Together there were 2,300 manuscripts, cir. 2,200 documents (diplomas), cir. 1,700 old prints, cir. 2,400 figures and drawings from an old collection of Lubomirsky’s Museum, the Pawlikowski collection and hundreds of . Moreover, it also included cir. 170 of the most valuable manuscripts of another Polish foundation library the , and the most valuable manuscripts and incunabulums of the University Library in Lviv. Among the evacuated literature of 19th and 20th century there were the autographs of of , the whole legacy of manuscripts (with autographs of Mazepa, Lilla Weneda, Król-Duch) and (with autographs of Pan Jowialski, Śluby panieńskie, and Dożywocie) and then autographs of works of, Teofil Lenartowicz,

Furthermore, the manuscript legacy of Lviv’s scholars was moved: Ludwik Bernacki, and the archive of the Galician activist peasant movement of Bolesław and Maria Wysłouch. When it comes to documents, the oldest and most valuable copies were selected, starting from the documents of from 1227 and the Silesian prince from.

The Ossolinem collection reached within March and April of  where they were supposed to survive the military actions in a cellar. Unexpectedly ithis collection was transferred by the Germans further West and stored in Adelin  in in the summer of 1944. Fortunately, they survived the whole war and in 1947 were incorporated into the collection of the reactivated Ossolineum Library in Wrocław. Part of the library holdings and archival materials were transported in the years - from Lviv to Wrocław as a "gift of the Ukrainian people to the Polish nation".

The baroque garden is located in the centre of the city. It is surrounded by the walls of Ossolineum, Ursuline High School and “Maciejówka”. The entrance to this garden is from Szewska Street or directly from Ossolineum. The garden has precisely trimmed hedges and very interesting brick and marble decorations. One can sit on the iron bench and listen to the sounds of water from a fountain. The architect of the garden, Anna Mordasiewicz, took care of the faithful presentation of baroque trends.

The central point of the garden is the monument of the Silesian baroque poet, Angelus Silesius. Angelus Silesius was born in 1624 in Wrocław. His real name was Johannes Schefler. One of his most important art works was “Angelic wanderer”. It isn’t an accident that the monument is located in the Ossolineum yard. Every year the Central European Award “Angelus” is given in Wrocław.