Visitors queued up to the Solomon Room in the Palace on the Isle, where a document borrowed from the Central Archives of Historical Records was presented. Museum educators spoke about the background of the constitution’s adoption and the reforms intended to fix the system of the Commonwealth. Among them – the abolition of free election in favor of a hereditary monarchy, the expansion of burghers’ and peasants’ rights, and the introduction of the separation of powers and the principle of national sovereignty.
“In contemporary Europe, dominated by absolute monarchies, such a law was revolutionary. Poland was ahead of its time,” notes Professor Dariusz Dudek from the Catholic University of Lublin, a specialist in constitutional law.
The Constitution of May 3rd was an innovative political project – ahead of its era and placing the Commonwealth among the most developed states in the world. Based on the idea of national sovereignty, it established the separation of powers, abolished the ineffective mechanisms of the old noble democracy, and laid the foundations for building a modern, efficient rule of law state. Its content – concise but momentous – drew from the best models of the Enlightenment, while also setting its own original direction for systemic reforms.
One of the day’s attractions was also a “meeting with the king” – a re-enactor in period costume spoke in the gardens about King Stanisław August Poniatowski, who played a key role in the process of adopting the constitution. Visitors eagerly took photos with him.
“It was thanks to the king and reformers from the patriotic camp that it was possible to adopt a law which – although it was in force for a short time – permanently inscribed itself in the history of European constitutionalism,” emphasizes Professor Dudek.
For the first time, official celebrations of the anniversary of the May 3rd Constitution in People’s Poland took place only after 1989. Currently, it is a national holiday and one of the most important days in the national calendar.
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