Leon Piniński

A 1934 portrait of Leon Piniński by Kazimierz Pochwalski
Leon Piniński's tomb at the Łyczaków cemetery

Leon Piniński (8 March 1857 - 4 April 1938) was a Polish scientist, diplomat, art historian and politician. A professor of Roman law and one-time rector of the Lwów University (1928–1929), he devoted most of his life to political career in his hometown of Lwów (modern Lviv, Ukraine), initially in Austria-Hungary and then in Poland.

Leon Piniński was born in Lwów, then in Austro-Hungarian Galicia. An heir to Piniński aristocratic family (holding the rank of hrabia - Count), he was also the owner of the Grzymałów manor. After receiving basic education at home, he passed his matura exam at the renowned college of Tarnopol. He then graduated from the Faculty of Law of the Lwów University. Piniński also continued his studies in Leipzig, Berlin and Vienna. In 1891 he became a professor of Roman law at his alma mater and soon afterwards he was admitted to the Polish Academy of Skills.

However, soon afterwards he gave up his scientific career and devoted himself to local politics. A member of the Podolacy aristocratic faction, he soon became one of the most popular conservative politicians of Lwów. In 1889 he was elected to the Imperial Council in Vienna. In addition to that, in 1894 he was also elected to the Galician Sejm. His term in both offices ended in 1898, when he became the governor of the province of Galicia. During his term in that office he became engaged in a struggle against the growing popularity of Socialist ideas. He also tried to counter the rise of Ukrainian nationalism. Extremely conservative, in 1903 he was dismissed from that post and replaced with Andrzej Kazimierz Potocki, a liberal and rich industrialist and a mogul.

Although Piniński retained a seat in the Austro-Hungarian House of Lords, he retired from public life and devoted his time to extensive studies on law as well as art history. During the World War I he briefly returned to politics, but was nowhere near as successful, as he used to be in his earlier days. Following the rebirth of Poland Piniński returned to his alma mater as a professor of Roman law and was also giving lectures on criminal and civil law. In 1928 and 1929 he briefly served as a rector of the Lwów University. At the same time, he continued his studies on history of art and managed to gather an extensive collection of works of art. Most of it he later donated to the Wawel Castle Museum and the Ossolineum Institution. A large part of his collection was later robbed by the Germans during the World War II and was never returned to Poland. Piniński himself retired in 1930s and died in Lwów, where he is buried.

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