The Thursday Dinners were meetings of artists, intellectuals, and statesmen held by the last King of Poland

Poland

Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...

, Stanislaus Augustus Poniatowski in the era of Enlightenment in Poland

Enlightenment in Poland

The ideas of the Age of Enlightenment in Poland were developed later than in the Western Europe, as Polish bourgeoisie was weaker, and szlachta culture together with the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth political system were in deep crisis...

.

The dinners were held first in the Royal Castle

Royal Castle, Warsaw

The Royal Castle in Warsaw is a castle residency and was the official residence of the Polish monarchs. It is located in the Castle Square, at the entrance to the Warsaw Old Town. The personal offices of the king and the administrative offices of the Royal Court of Poland were located there from...

 in Warsaw and later in the Water Palace between 1770 and 1784. During the dinners, which typically lasted three hours and resembled French salon

Salon (gathering)

A salon is a gathering of people under the roof of an inspiring host, held partly to amuse one another and partly to refine taste and increase their knowledge of the participants through conversation. These gatherings often consciously followed Horace's definition of the aims of poetry, "either to...

s, the King dined with his guests and discussed literature, art and politics.

The number of guests fluctuated over the years, but there were about thirty regulars. Many of them were prominent Polish figures, including luminaries such as Ignacy Krasicki

Ignacy Krasicki

Ignacy Krasicki , from 1766 Prince-Bishop of Warmia and from 1795 Archbishop of Gniezno , was Poland's leading Enlightenment poet , a critic of the clergy, Poland's La Fontaine, author of the first Polish novel, playwright, journalist, encyclopedist, and translator from French and...

, Franciszek Bohomolec

Franciszek Bohomolec

Franciszek Bohomolec was a Polish dramatist, linguist, and theatrical reformer who was one of the principal playwrights of the Polish Enlightenment....

, Adam Naruszewicz

Adam Naruszewicz

Adam Stanisław Naruszewicz was a Polish nobleman from an impoverished aristocratic family, poet, historian, dramatist, translator, publicist, Jesuit and titular Bishop of Smolensk and bishop of Łuck .His family had a small estate in Polesie and he was educated at Pinsk.As a senator he...

, Ignacy Potocki, Hugo Kołłątaj, Jan

Jan Sniadecki

Jan Śniadecki was a Polish mathematician, philosopher and astronomer at the turn of the 18th and 19th centuries.-Life:Born in Żnin, Śniadecki studied at Kraków University and in Paris...

 and Jędrzej Śniadecki

Jedrzej Sniadecki

Jędrzej Śniadecki was a Polish writer, physician, chemist and biologist. His achievements include the creation of modern Polish terminology in the field of chemistry.-Life and work:...

, Stanisław Konarski, Tomasz Adam Ostrowski

Tomasz Adam Ostrowski

Tomasz Adam Ostrowski was a Polish nobleman , Count since 1798Tomasz became Colonel of the Crown Army in 1765, Chamberlain of King Stanisław August Poniatowski in 1767, castellan of Czersk since 1777, Court Treasurer since 1791, Marshal of the Sejm of the Duchy of Warsaw in 1809 and later...

 and Chancellor

Kanclerz

Kanclerz was one of the highest officials in the historic Poland. This office functioned from the early Polish kingdom of the 12th century until the end of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth in 1795. A respective office also existed in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania since the 16th...

 Andrzej Zamoyski.

There were also less well known "Wednesday Dinners" (obiady środowe). While the Thursday Dinners gathered mostly artists (painters, poets, etc.), the Wednesday ones brought together educators, scientists and political activists.

The Thursday Dinners spawned the first Polish literary magazine, Zabawy Przyjemne i Pożyteczne (Diversions Pleasurable and Useful), published from 1770 to 1777.