Karl von Siegel: Medal on the foundation of the Ossoliński National Institute in Lemberg/Lviv in 1817, illustration

Since a re-establishment of the Polish state was politically improbable in the foreseeable future, the Galician-Polish élite considered that co-existence within the Habsburg Monarchy was a fact that ought to be exploited as much as possible – until the time was ripe to regain its own state.