The last king - a patron of the arts

The reign of Stanis³aw August Poniatowski,  last king of Poland-Lithuania, was full of contradictions. On the one hand he was submissive towards Russia, to whose support he owed his victory in the elections, and depended on the Czartoryski Familia; on the other he let Poland flourish culturally. His reign saw the publication of the works of history by Adam Naruszewicz, the satires and novels of Bishop Ignacy Krasicki, the launch of the national theatre (established by Wojciech Bogus³awski). Warsaw, Poland's capital since the times of Sigismund III, became one of the centres of  the Neo-Classical style, as exemplified by the king's residence at £azienki. Micha³ Ogiñski contributed to Diderot's famous Encyclopedia. The political writings of the times, by men of the Enlightenment like Stanis³aw Staszic and Hugo Ko³³±taj, spread ideas which could be encountered in England or France. The Enlightenment period witnessed educational reform conducted under the supervision of what was the world's first modern ministry of education (created in 1773).