page_title: Andrzej Ciechanowiecki
section_title: Knight of Malta
hierarchical_section_title: Andrzej Ciechanowiecki / Knight of Malta
caption_attribution_description: Polski: Kościół św. Maksymiliana Kolbego w Krakowie na Mistrzejowicach.
context_page_description: Andrew Stanislaus Ciechanowiecki, Dąbrowa Coat of Arms, was a Polish-British nobleman, diplomat, prisoner and agent of Communist Poland, economist, academic, art historian, philanthropist, art collector, antique dealer, antiquarian and exhibition curator. He was considered an authority on French baroque sculpture in the second half of the 20th century.
  He was founder of the Ciechanowiecki Foundation at the Royal Castle in Warsaw, Honorary Professor of the Academy of Fine Arts in Warsaw, member of the Polish Academy of Sciences, Honorary Member or Life Member of many learned societies both British and Polish, FSA, member of the board of trustees of the Royal Castle in Warsaw, and member of the board of the Lanckoroński Foundation. He was also a council member of the Princes Czartoryski Foundation from its establishment until July 2011, the Raczyński Foundation, and the Polish Historical and Literary Society in Paris, chairman of the Polish-Belarusian Bilateral Commission for the Conservation of National Patrimony.
  He was a prominent member of the Sovereign Military Order of Malta and the Sacred Military Constantinian Order of Saint George.
context_section_description: Ciechanowiecki had petitioned from Poland, as the first Pole from behind the Iron Curtain, and was probably among the first petitioners from Eastern Europe, to seek membership of the Sovereign & Military Order of Malta, SMOM, in 1957, although usually it is by invitation only. He was accepted into its ranks a year later by the Polish Association of the Order, then in exile. He later became its deputy chancellor, to Emeryk August Hutten-Czapski for 10 years, and vice-president until 1997. He initiated under its aegis the creation of a care home, Kolbe House, for Polish elderly in the outskirts of London, which later transferred to Warsaw, where it became far more significant. He rose through the ranks of the Order, finally becoming Bailiff Grand Cross of the Most Venerable Order of the Hospital of Saint John of Jerusalem.
  He was also very active in various dynastic orders, especially those of the Bourbon-Two Sicilies dynasty, creating delegations to Poland, Great Britain and Ireland of the Sacred Military Constantinian Order of Saint George, serving under Grand Master, The Duke of Castro on the Order's Council in Rome.  He rose through the ranks and held uniquely the honours of Knight of the Order of St Januarius, Bailiff Grand Cross of Justice of the Sacred Military Constantinian Order of Saint George with Collar and Grand Cross of the Royal Order of Francis I.
  He later formed the Delegation of the Order of St Maurice & St Lazarus of the Royal House of Savoy in the UK and in recent years helped to establish the Tuscan Dynastic Orders of St Stephen and that of St Joseph in Britain. He was also very close to the former Russian Imperial House and was decorated with the highest Orders of Imperial Russia.
  His position in the Order of Malta and his personal relationships with the heads of former ruling houses as well as his quasi diplomatic activities in the fields of culture and ecclesiastical affairs were the grounds on which the last King of Italy, Umberto II, who although in exile, had kept his royal prerogatives in the field of Heraldry and confirmed Ciechanowiecki's "hereditary right" to use a comital title in 1975 – a foreign title allegedly "bestowed" on a family member more than 200 years ago. Two years later the Order of Malta confirmed this usage in all pertinent acts of the order internationally, as it maintains diplomatic relations with more than 100 sovereign states.
  On behalf of the Polish Association of SMOM in the UK, he did much to support Polish charities during Martial law in Poland (1991–92), funded many scholarships and, on behalf of the Polish Association of the Knights of Malta contributed to the costs for the construction of the Church of St Maximilian Kolbe in the industrial suburb of Mistrzejowice on the outskirts of Kraków. It was the second church to be built in a secular Communist city (1975–1983). Its interior décor is mainly sculptural. He worked closely with Prof. Gustaw Ziemła, a noted Polish sculptor, to produce the décor of the Lady chapel, which has entered the canon of Polish post-war sculpture.
caption: Church of St. Maksymilian Kolbe, Kraków
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