Currently bringing together over a hundred professional luthiers, the Polish Union of Artist Violin Makers was established in 1954 as the Polish Association of Artist Violin Makers, receiving its present name in 1981. The organisation's main objective was to work for the revival and development of Polish lutherie. Alongside luthiers, among its founding members were many Polish cultural figures, such as Irena Dubiska, Eugenia Umińska, Wanda Wiłkomirska, Tadeusz Wroński, Andrzej Panufnik, Zbigniew Wiszniewski, Kazimierz Sikorski, Bogdan Marconi and Zdzisław Szulc. Since its establishment, the union has been actively working to promote networking and collaboration between Polish and international violin makers. It has also effectuated the establishment of violin making schools and facilities in Poland. Since 1961 the union has been managing the Polish Collection of Violins established by the country's ministry of culture, which currently holds ca. 300 master violins, instruments from the violin family and bows available to musicians and students of music to use. The union has been also involved in the organisation of the International Henryk Wieniawski Violin Making Competition and the Polish National Włodzimierz Kamiński Competition held in Poznań since 1957 by the Henryk Wieniawski Music Society. In the course of its 60 years of existence, the Polish Union of Artist Violin Makers has been effectively supporting Polish lutherie, which today enjoys international stature.