The Jagiellonian University (
Polish
Polish may refer to:
* Anything from or related to Poland, a country in Europe
* Polish language
* Poles
Poles,, ; singular masculine: ''Polak'', singular feminine: ''Polka'' or Polish people, are a West Slavic nation and ethnic group, w ...
: ''Uniwersytet Jagielloński'', UJ) is a
public
In public relations and communication science, publics are groups of individual people, and the public (a.k.a. the general public) is the totality of such groupings. This is a different concept to the sociological concept of the ''Öffentlichk ...
research university
A research university or a research-intensive university is a university that is committed to research as a central part of its mission. They are the most important sites at which knowledge production occurs, along with "intergenerational kn ...
in
Kraków, Poland. Founded in 1364 by
King Casimir III the Great, it is the oldest university in Poland and the 13th
oldest university in continuous operation in the world. It is regarded as Poland's most prestigious academic institution. The university has been viewed as a guardian of Polish culture, particularly for continuing operations during the
partitions of Poland and the two World Wars, as well as a significant contributor to the intellectual heritage of Europe.
The campus of the Jagiellonian University is centrally located within the
city of Kraków. The university consists of thirteen main faculties, in addition to three faculties composing the
Collegium Medicum. It employs roughly 4,000 academics and provides education to more than 35,000 students who study in 166 fields.
The main language of instruction is Polish, although around 30 degrees are offered in English and some in German. The university library is among the largest of its kind and houses a number of medieval manuscripts, including the landmark
''De Revolutionibus'' by alumnus
Nicolaus Copernicus
Nicolaus Copernicus (; pl, Mikołaj Kopernik; gml, Niklas Koppernigk, german: Nikolaus Kopernikus; 19 February 1473 – 24 May 1543) was a Renaissance polymath, active as a mathematician, astronomer, and Catholic canon, who formulated ...
.
In addition to Copernicus, the university's notable alumni include heads of state
King John III Sobieski
John III Sobieski ( pl, Jan III Sobieski; lt, Jonas III Sobieskis; la, Ioannes III Sobiscius; 17 August 1629 – 17 June 1696) was King of Poland and Grand Duke of Lithuania from 1674 until his death in 1696.
Born into Polish nobility, Sobie ...
,
Pope John Paul II
Pope John Paul II ( la, Ioannes Paulus II; it, Giovanni Paolo II; pl, Jan Paweł II; born Karol Józef Wojtyła ; 18 May 19202 April 2005) was the head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 1978 until his ...
, and
Andrzej Duda
Andrzej Sebastian Duda (; born 16 May 1972) is a Polish lawyer and politician who has served as president of Poland since 6 August 2015. Before becoming president, Andrzej Duda was a member of Polish Lower House (Sejm) from 2011 to 2014 and th ...
; Polish prime ministers
Beata Szydło
Beata Maria Szydło (, née Kusińska , 15 April 1963) is a Polish politician who has served as a Member of the European Parliament (MEP) since 2019. A member of Law and Justice (PiS), she previously served as Prime Minister of Poland from 2015 ...
and
Józef Cyrankiewicz
Józef Adam Zygmunt Cyrankiewicz (; 23 April 1911 – 20 January 1989) was a Polish Socialist (PPS) and after 1948 Communist politician. He served as premier of the Polish People's Republic between 1947 and 1952, and again for 16 years between ...
; renowned cultural figures
Jan Kochanowski
Jan Kochanowski (; 1530 – 22 August 1584) was a Polish Renaissance poet who established poetic patterns that would become integral to the Polish literary language. He is commonly regarded as the greatest Polish poet before Adam Mickiewicz.
...
,
Stanisław Lem
Stanisław Herman Lem (; 12 September 1921 – 27 March 2006) was a Polish writer of science fiction and essays on various subjects, including philosophy, futurology, and literary criticism. Many of his science fiction stories are of satirical ...
, and
Krzysztof Penderecki
Krzysztof Eugeniusz Penderecki (; 23 November 1933 – 29 March 2020) was a Polish composer and conductor. His best known works include ''Threnody to the Victims of Hiroshima'', Symphony No. 3, his '' St Luke Passion'', '' Polish Requiem'', ' ...
; and leading intellectuals and researchers such as
Hugo Kołłątaj
Hugo Stumberg Kołłątaj, also spelled ''Kołłątay'' (pronounced , 1 April 1750 – 28 February 1812), was a prominent Polish constitutional reformer and educationalist, and one of the most prominent figures of the Polish Enlightenment. He s ...
,
Bronisław Malinowski,
Carl Menger,
Leo Sternbach, and
Norman Davies. Four
Nobel laureates have been affiliated with the university, all in literature:
Ivo Andrić
Ivo Andrić ( sr-Cyrl, Иво Андрић, ; born Ivan Andrić; 9 October 1892 – 13 March 1975) was a Yugoslav novelist, poet and short story writer who won the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1961. His writings dealt mainly with life in ...
and
Wisława Szymborska
Maria Wisława Anna SzymborskaVioletta Szosta gazeta.pl, 9 February 2012. ostęp 2012-02-11 (; 2 July 1923 – 1 February 2012) was a Polish poet, essayist, translator, and recipient of the 1996 Nobel Prize in Literature. Born in Prowent ( ...
, who studied there, and
Czesław Miłosz
Czesław Miłosz (, also , ; 30 June 1911 – 14 August 2004) was a Polish-American poet, prose writer, translator, and diplomat. Regarded as one of the great poets of the 20th century, he won the 1980 Nobel Prize in Literature. In its citation, ...
and
Olga Tokarczuk
Olga Nawoja Tokarczuk (; born 29 January 1962) is a Polish writer, activist, and public intellectual. She is one of the most critically acclaimed and successful authors of her generation in Poland; in 2019, she was awarded the 2018 Nobel Prize ...
, who taught there. Faculty and graduates of the university have been elected to the
Polish Academy of Arts and Sciences
The Polish Academy of Arts and Sciences or Polish Academy of Learning ( pl, Polska Akademia Umiejętności), headquartered in Kraków and founded in 1872, is one of two institutions in contemporary Poland having the nature of an academy of scien ...
, the
Royal Society
The Royal Society, formally The Royal Society of London for Improving Natural Knowledge, is a learned society and the United Kingdom's national academy of sciences. The society fulfils a number of roles: promoting science and its benefits, re ...
, the
British Academy
The British Academy is the United Kingdom's national academy for the humanities and the social sciences.
It was established in 1902 and received its royal charter in the same year. It is now a fellowship of more than 1,000 leading scholars spa ...
, the
American Academy of Arts and Sciences
The American Academy of Arts and Sciences (abbreviation: AAA&S) is one of the oldest learned societies in the United States. It was founded in 1780 during the American Revolution by John Adams, John Hancock, James Bowdoin, Andrew Oliver, a ...
, and other honorary societies.
The Jagiellonian University is consistently ranked among the top universities in the world. The
CWTS Leiden Ranking
The CWTS Leiden Ranking is an annual global university ranking based exclusively on bibliometric indicators. The rankings are compiled by the Centre for Science and Technology Studies ( Dutch: ''Centrum voor Wetenschap en Technologische Studies ...
, which reviews the scientific performance of more than 1,200 global universities, has placed the university at #1 in Poland, #74 regionally, and #250 globally.
History
Founding the university
![Założenie Szkoły Głównej przeniesieniem do Krakowa ugruntowane (Matejko UJ)](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f8/Za%C5%82o%C5%BCenie_Szko%C5%82y_G%C5%82%C3%B3wnej_przeniesieniem_do_Krakowa_ugruntowane_%28Matejko_UJ%29.jpg)
In the mid-14th century,
King Casimir III the Great realised that the nation needed a class of educated people, especially lawyers, who could arrange a better set of the country's laws and administer the courts and offices. His efforts to found an institution of higher learning in Poland were rewarded when
Pope Urban V
Pope Urban V ( la, Urbanus V; 1310 – 19 December 1370), born Guillaume de Grimoard, was the head of the Catholic Church from 28 September 1362 until his death in December 1370 and was also a member of the Order of Saint Benedict. He was the ...
granted him permission to set up a university in Kraków. A
royal charter
A royal charter is a formal grant issued by a monarch under royal prerogative as letters patent. Historically, they have been used to promulgate public laws, the most famous example being the English Magna Carta (great charter) of 1215, but s ...
of foundation was issued on 12 May 1364, and a simultaneous document was issued by the city council granting privileges to the ''
Studium Generale
is the old customary name for a medieval university in medieval Europe.
Overview
There is no official definition for the term . The term ' first appeared at the beginning of the 13th century out of customary usage, and meant a place where stud ...
''.
Development of the University of Kraków stalled upon the death of its founder (
King Casimir), and lectures were held in various places across the city, including, amongst others, in professors' houses, churches and in the cathedral school on the Wawel Hill. It is believed that the construction of a building to house the ''Studium Generale'' began on Plac Wolnica in what is today the district of Kazimierz.
After a period of low interest and lack of funds, the institution was restored in the 1390s by
Jadwiga
Jadwiga (; diminutives: ''Jadzia'' , ''Iga'') is a Polish feminine given name. It originated from the old German feminine given name ''Hedwig'' (variants of which include ''Hedwiga''), which is compounded from ''hadu'', "battle", and ''wig'', "fig ...
, king of Poland, the daughter of
King Louis the Great of Hungary and Poland. The royal couple, Jadwiga and her husband
Władysław II Jagiełło
Jogaila (; 1 June 1434), later Władysław II Jagiełło ()He is known under a number of names: lt, Jogaila Algirdaitis; pl, Władysław II Jagiełło; be, Jahajła (Ягайла). See also: Names and titles of Władysław II Jagiełło. ...
decided that, instead of building new premises for the university, it would be better to buy an existing edifice; it was thus that a building on Żydowska Street, which had previously been the property of the Pęcherz family, was acquired in 1399. The Queen donated all of her personal
jewelry
Jewellery ( UK) or jewelry ( U.S.) consists of decorative items worn for personal adornment, such as brooches, rings, necklaces, earrings, pendants, bracelets, and cufflinks. Jewellery may be attached to the body or the clothes. From a w ...
to the university, allowing it to enroll 203 students. The faculties of astronomy, law and theology attracted eminent scholars: for example,
John Cantius
John Cantius ( la, Joannes Cantius; pl, Jan z Kęt or ; 23 June 1390 – 24 December 1473) was a Polish priest, scholastic philosopher, physicist and theologian.
Biography
John Cantius was born in Kęty, a small town near Oświęcim, Polan ...
,
Stanisław of Skarbimierz,
Paweł Włodkowic,
Jan of Głogów, and
Albert Brudzewski
Albert Brudzewski, ''also'' Albert Blar (of Brudzewo), Albert of Brudzewo or Wojciech Brudzewski (in Latin, ''Albertus de Brudzewo''; c.1445–c.1497) was a Polish astronomer, mathematician, philosopher and diplomat.
Life
Albert (in Polis ...
, who from 1491 to 1495 was one of
Nicolaus Copernicus
Nicolaus Copernicus (; pl, Mikołaj Kopernik; gml, Niklas Koppernigk, german: Nikolaus Kopernikus; 19 February 1473 – 24 May 1543) was a Renaissance polymath, active as a mathematician, astronomer, and Catholic canon, who formulated ...
' teachers. The university was the first university in Europe to establish independent chairs in
Mathematics and
Astronomy
Astronomy () is a natural science that studies celestial objects and phenomena. It uses mathematics, physics, and chemistry in order to explain their origin and evolution. Objects of interest include planets, moons, stars, nebulae, g ...
. This rapid expansion in the university's faculty necessitated the purchase of larger premises in which to house them; it was thus that the building known today as the ''
Collegium Maius
A (plural ), or college, was any association in ancient Rome that acted as a legal entity. Following the passage of the ''Lex Julia'' during the reign of Julius Caesar as Consul and Dictator of the Roman Republic (49–44 BC), and their reaf ...
'', with its quadrangle and beautiful arcade, came into being towards the beginning of the 15th century. The ''Collegium Maius qualities, many of which directly contributed to the sheltered, academic atmosphere at the university, became widely respected, helping the university establish its reputation as a place of learning in
Central Europe
Central Europe is an area of Europe between Western Europe and Eastern Europe, based on a common historical, social and cultural identity. The Thirty Years' War (1618–1648) between Catholicism and Protestantism significantly shaped the a ...
.
Golden age of the Renaissance
For several centuries, almost the entire intellectual elite of Poland was educated at the university, where they enjoyed particular royal favors. While it was, and largely remains, Polish students who make up the majority of the university's students, it has, over its long history, educated thousands of foreign students from countries such as Lithuania, Russia, Hungary,
Bohemia, Germany, and Spain. During the second half of the 15th century, over 40 percent of students came from the outside of the
Kingdom of Poland
The Kingdom of Poland ( pl, Królestwo Polskie; Latin: ''Regnum Poloniae'') was a state in Central Europe. It may refer to:
Historical political entities
* Kingdom of Poland, a kingdom existing from 1025 to 1031
* Kingdom of Poland, a kingdom exi ...
.
![Kraków - Collegium Iuridicum - Brama 01](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/17/Krak%C3%B3w_-_Collegium_Iuridicum_-_Brama_01.JPG)
The first chancellor of the university was
Piotr Wysz, and the first professors were
Czech
Czech may refer to:
* Anything from or related to the Czech Republic, a country in Europe
** Czech language
** Czechs, the people of the area
** Czech culture
** Czech cuisine
* One of three mythical brothers, Lech, Czech, and Rus'
Places
* Czech, ...
s,
Germans
, native_name_lang = de
, region1 =
, pop1 = 72,650,269
, region2 =
, pop2 = 534,000
, region3 =
, pop3 = 157,000
3,322,405
, region4 =
, pop4 = ...
and Poles, most of them trained at the
Charles University in
Prague
Prague ( ; cs, Praha ; german: Prag, ; la, Praga) is the capital and List of cities in the Czech Republic, largest city in the Czech Republic, and the historical capital of Bohemia. On the Vltava river, Prague is home to about 1.3 milli ...
. By 1520 Greek philology was introduced by Constanzo Claretti and Wenzel von Hirschberg;
Hebrew
Hebrew (; ; ) is a Northwest Semitic language of the Afroasiatic language family. Historically, it is one of the spoken languages of the Israelites and their longest-surviving descendants, the Jews and Samaritans. It was largely preserved ...
was also taught. At this time, the ''Collegium Maius'' consisted of seven reading rooms, six of which were named for the great ancient scholars:
Aristotle
Aristotle (; grc-gre, Ἀριστοτέλης ''Aristotélēs'', ; 384–322 BC) was a Greek philosopher and polymath during the Classical period in Ancient Greece. Taught by Plato, he was the founder of the Peripatetic school of ph ...
,
Socrates
Socrates (; ; –399 BC) was a Greek philosopher from Athens who is credited as the founder of Western philosophy and among the first moral philosophers of the ethical tradition of thought. An enigmatic figure, Socrates authored no te ...
,
Plato
Plato ( ; grc-gre, Πλάτων ; 428/427 or 424/423 – 348/347 BC) was a Greek philosopher born in Athens during the Classical period in Ancient Greece. He founded the Platonist school of thought and the Academy, the first institution ...
,
Galen
Aelius Galenus or Claudius Galenus ( el, Κλαύδιος Γαληνός; September 129 – c. AD 216), often Anglicized as Galen () or Galen of Pergamon, was a Greek physician, surgeon and philosopher in the Roman Empire. Considered to be one ...
,
Ptolemy
Claudius Ptolemy (; grc-gre, Πτολεμαῖος, ; la, Claudius Ptolemaeus; AD) was a mathematician, astronomer, astrologer, geographer, and music theorist, who wrote about a dozen scientific treatises, three of which were of importance ...
, and
Pythagoras
Pythagoras of Samos ( grc, Πυθαγόρας ὁ Σάμιος, Pythagóras ho Sámios, Pythagoras the Samian, or simply ; in Ionian Greek; ) was an ancient Ionian Greek philosopher and the eponymous founder of Pythagoreanism. His politi ...
. Furthermore, it was during this period that the faculties of Law, Medicine, Theology, and Philosophy were established in their own premises; two of these buildings, the ''Collegium Iuridicum'' and ''Collegium Minus'', survive to this day. The golden era of the University of Kraków took place during the
Polish Renaissance
The Renaissance in Poland ( pl, Renesans, Odrodzenie; literally: the Rebirth) lasted from the late 15th to the late 16th century and is widely considered to have been the Golden Age of Polish culture. Ruled by the Jagiellonian dynasty, the Crown ...
, between 1500 and 1535, when it was attended by 3,215 students in the first decade of the 16th century, and it was in these years that the foundations for the
Jagiellonian Library
Jagiellonian Library ( pl, Biblioteka Jagiellońska, popular nickname ''Jagiellonka'') is the library of the Jagiellonian University in Kraków and with almost 6.7 million volumes, one of the largest libraries in Poland, serving as a public libra ...
were set, which allowed for the addition of a library floor to the ''Collegium Maius''. The library's original rooms in which all books were chained to their cases in order to prevent theft are no longer used as such. However, they are still occasionally open to hosting visiting lecturers' talks.
As the university's popularity, along with that of the ever more provincial Kraków's, declined in later centuries, the number of students attending the university also fell and, as such, the attendance record set in the early 16th-century wasn't surpassed until the late 18th century. This phenomenon was recorded as part of a more general economic and political decline seen in the
Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth
The Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, formally known as the Kingdom of Poland and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, and, after 1791, as the Commonwealth of Poland, was a bi- confederal state, sometimes called a federation, of Poland and Lithuania ru ...
, which was suffering from the effects of poor governance and the policies of hostile neighbors at the time. In fact, despite a number of expansion projects during the late 18th century, many of the university's buildings had fallen into disrepair and were being used for a range of other purposes; in the university's archives, there is one entry which reads: 'Nobody lives in the building, nothing happens there. If the lecture halls underwent refurbishment they could be rented out to accommodate a laundry'. This period thus represents one of the darkest periods in the university's history and is almost certainly the one during which the closure of the institution seemed most imminent.
Turmoil and near closure after the partitions
![Collegium Novum UJ 02 Krakow](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/05/Collegium_Novum_UJ_02_Krakow.jpg)
After the
third partition of Poland
The Third Partition of Poland (1795) was the last in a series of the Partitions of Poland–Lithuania and the land of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth among Prussia, the Habsburg monarchy, and the Russian Empire which effectively ended Polis ...
in 1795 and the ensuing
Napoleonic Wars
The Napoleonic Wars (1803–1815) were a series of major global conflicts pitting the French Empire and its allies, led by Napoleon I, against a fluctuating array of European states formed into various coalitions. It produced a period of Fren ...
, Kraków became a
free city under the protection of the
Austrian Empire
The Austrian Empire (german: link=no, Kaiserthum Oesterreich, modern spelling , ) was a Central-Eastern European multinational great power from 1804 to 1867, created by proclamation out of the realms of the Habsburgs. During its existence ...
; this, however, was not to last long. In 1846, after the
Kraków Uprising
The Kraków uprising ( Polish: ''powstanie krakowskie'', ''rewolucja krakowska''; German: ''Krakauer Aufstand''; Russian: ''краковское восстание'') of 1846 was an attempt, led by Polish insurgents such as Jan Tyssowski and ...
, the city and its university became part of the
Austrian Empire
The Austrian Empire (german: link=no, Kaiserthum Oesterreich, modern spelling , ) was a Central-Eastern European multinational great power from 1804 to 1867, created by proclamation out of the realms of the Habsburgs. During its existence ...
.
[ ] The Austrians were in many ways hostile to the institution and, soon after their arrival, removed many of the furnishings from the ''Collegium Maius ''Auditorium Maximum'' in order to convert it into a grain store. However, the threat of closure of the University was ultimately dissipated by
Ferdinand I of Austria
en, Ferdinand Charles Leopold Joseph Francis Marcelin
, image = Kaiser Ferdinand I.jpg
, caption = Portrait by Eduard Edlinger (1843)
, succession = Emperor of AustriaKing of Hungary
, moretext = ( more...)
, cor-type = ...
's decree to maintain it. By the 1870s the fortunes of the university had improved so greatly that many scholars had returned. The liquefaction of nitrogen and oxygen was successfully demonstrated by professors Zygmunt Wróblewski and Karol Olszewski in 1883. Thereafter the Austrian authorities took on a new role in the development of the university and provided funds for the construction of a number of new buildings, including the neo-gothic ''
Collegium Novum
The ''Collegium Novum'' (Latin: "New College") is the Neo-Gothic main building of the Jagiellonian University in Kraków, Poland, originally built between the year 1363 and 1365 and after its destruction, rebuilt in between 1873-1887. Based on ...
'', which opened in 1887.
It was, conversely, from this building that in 1918 a large painting of ''
Kaiser''
Franz Joseph
Franz Joseph I or Francis Joseph I (german: Franz Joseph Karl, hu, Ferenc József Károly, 18 August 1830 – 21 November 1916) was Emperor of Austria, King of Hungary, and the other states of the Habsburg monarchy from 2 December 1848 until his ...
was removed and
destroyed by Polish students advocating the reestablishment of an independent Polish state.
![BASA-1771K-1-1163-32-Jagiellonian University, Krakow, Poland](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/ad/BASA-1771K-1-1163-32-Jagiellonian_University%2C_Krakow%2C_Poland.jpeg/1200px-BASA-1771K-1-1163-32-Jagiellonian_University%2C_Krakow%2C_Poland.jpeg)
For the 500th anniversary of the university's foundation, a monument to
Copernicus
Nicolaus Copernicus (; pl, Mikołaj Kopernik; gml, Niklas Koppernigk, german: Nikolaus Kopernikus; 19 February 1473 – 24 May 1543) was a Renaissance polymath, active as a mathematician, astronomer, and Catholic canon, who formulated ...
was placed in the quadrangle of the ''Collegium Maius''; this statue is now to be found in the direct vicinity of the ''Collegium Novum'', outside the ''Collegium Witkowskiego'', to where it was moved in 1953. Nevertheless, it was in the Grzegórzecka and the Kopernika areas that much of the university's expansion took place up to 1918; during this time the ''Collegium Medicum'' was relocated to a site just east of the centre, and was expanded with the addition of a number of modern teaching hospitals – this 'medical campus' remains to this day. By the late 1930s, the number of students at the university had increased dramatically to almost six thousand. Now a major centre for education in the independent
Republic of Poland, the university attained government support for the purchase of building plots for new premises, as a result of which a number of residencies were built for students and professors alike. However, of all the projects begun during this era, the most important would have to be the creation of the
Jagiellonian Library
Jagiellonian Library ( pl, Biblioteka Jagiellońska, popular nickname ''Jagiellonka'') is the library of the Jagiellonian University in Kraków and with almost 6.7 million volumes, one of the largest libraries in Poland, serving as a public libra ...
. The library's monumental building, construction of which began in 1931, was finally completed towards the end of the interwar period, which allowed the university's many varied literary collections to be relocated to their new home by the outbreak of war in 1939.
Modern era and renovation
On November 6, 1939, following the
Nazi invasion of Poland
The invasion of Poland (1 September – 6 October 1939) was a joint attack on the Republic of Poland by Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union which marked the beginning of World War II. The German invasion began on 1 September 1939, one week afte ...
, 184 professors were arrested and deported to
Sachsenhausen concentration camp
Sachsenhausen () or Sachsenhausen-Oranienburg was a German Nazi concentration camp in Oranienburg, Germany, used from 1936 until April 1945, shortly before the defeat of Nazi Germany in May later that year. It mainly held political prisoner ...
during an operation codenamed ''
Sonderaktion Krakau
''Sonderaktion Krakau'' was a German operation against professors and academics of the Jagiellonian University and other universities in German-occupied Kraków, Poland, at the beginning of World War II. It was carried out as part of the much bro ...
'' (Special Operation Krakow). The university, along with the rest of Poland's higher and secondary education, was closed for the remainder of
World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...
.
Despite the university's reopening after the cessation of hostilities in 1945, the new government of Poland was hostile to the teachings of the pre-war university and the faculty was suppressed by the
Communists
Communism (from Latin la, communis, lit=common, universal, label=none) is a far-left sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology and current within the socialist movement whose goal is the establishment of a communist society, a s ...
in 1954.
By 1957 the Polish government decided that it would invest in the establishment of new facilities near
Jordan Park and expansion of other smaller existing facilities. Construction work proved slow and many of the stated goals were never achieved; it was this poor management that eventually led a number of scholars to openly criticise the government for its apparent lack of interest in educational development and disregard for the university's future. A number of new buildings, such as the ''Collegium Paderevianum'', were built with funds from the legacy of
Ignacy Paderewski
Ignacy Jan Paderewski (; – 29 June 1941) was a Polish pianist and composer who became a spokesman for Polish independence. In 1919, he was the new nation's Prime Minister and foreign minister during which he signed the Treaty of Versaill ...
.
By 1989 Poland had overthrown its Communist government. In that same year, the Jagiellonian University successfully completed the purchase of its first building plot in
Pychowice, Kraków, where, from 2000, construction of a new complex of university buildings, the so-called Third Campus, began. The new campus, officially named the '600th Anniversary Campus', was developed in conjunction with the new LifeScience Park, which is managed by the Jagiellonian Centre for Innovation, the university's research consortium. Public funds earmarked for the project amounted to 946.5 million
zlotys, or 240 million
euro
The euro ( symbol: €; code: EUR) is the official currency of 19 out of the member states of the European Union (EU). This group of states is known as the eurozone or, officially, the euro area, and includes about 340 million citizens . ...
s.
Poland's entry into the
European Union
The European Union (EU) is a supranational political and economic union of member states that are located primarily in Europe. The union has a total area of and an estimated total population of about 447million. The EU has often been de ...
in 2004 has proved instrumental in improving the fortunes of the Jagiellonian University, which has seen huge increases in funding from both central government and European authorities, allowing it to develop new departments, research centres, and better support the work of its students and academics.
International partnerships
The university's academic advancement in both Poland and abroad is illustrated by its widely recognized research achievements. The scientists and physicians from the Collegium Medicum carry out pioneer studies, e.g. in cardiac surgery, urology and neurology, often leading to the development of novel treatment methods. Their findings have been published in international journals such as European Journal of Cardio-Thoracic Medicine,
New England Journal of Medicine
''The New England Journal of Medicine'' (''NEJM'') is a weekly medical journal published by the Massachusetts Medical Society. It is among the most prestigious peer-reviewed medical journals as well as the oldest continuously published one.
His ...
, and
The Lancet
''The Lancet'' is a weekly peer-reviewed general medical journal and one of the oldest of its kind. It is also the world's highest-impact academic journal. It was founded in England in 1823.
The journal publishes original research articles, ...
. UJ archaeologists lead explorations of ancient sites in various parts of the world, including Egypt, Cyprus, Central America, South Asia and Altay. The astronomers take part in major international projects, including
H.E.S.S. and VIPERS. The work of UJ bio-technologists has been published in journals, such as
Bioorganic & Medicinal Chemistry
''Bioorganic & Medicinal Chemistry'' is a scientific journal focusing on the results of research on the molecular structure of biological organisms and the interaction of biological targets with chemical agents.Bioorganic & Medicinal Chemistry' It ...
,
Molecular Ecology Resources, and
European Journal of Human Genetics
The ''European Journal of Human Genetics'' is a monthly peer-reviewed scientific journal published by the Nature Publishing Group on behalf of the European Society of Human Genetics. It covers all aspects of human genetics.
Abstracting and index ...
.
In the
English-speaking world
Speakers of English are also known as Anglophones, and the countries where English is natively spoken by the majority of the population are termed the '' Anglosphere''. Over two billion people speak English , making English the largest langua ...
, the Jagiellonian University has international partnerships with the
University of Cambridge
The University of Cambridge is a public collegiate research university in Cambridge, England. Founded in 1209 and granted a royal charter by Henry III in 1231, Cambridge is the world's third oldest surviving university and one of its most pr ...
,
University of Melbourne
The University of Melbourne is a public research university located in Melbourne, Australia. Founded in 1853, it is Australia's second oldest university and the oldest in Victoria. Its main campus is located in Parkville, an inner suburb no ...
,
University of Chicago
The University of Chicago (UChicago, Chicago, U of C, or UChi) is a private university, private research university in Chicago, Illinois. Its main campus is located in Chicago's Hyde Park, Chicago, Hyde Park neighborhood. The University of Chic ...
,
University of California, Los Angeles
The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California. UCLA's academic roots were established in 1881 as a teachers college then known as the southern branch of the California S ...
,
London School of Economics
The London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE) is a public university, public research university located in London, England and a constituent college of the federal University of London. Founded in 1895 by Fabian Society members Sidn ...
,
University of Rochester
The University of Rochester (U of R, UR, or U of Rochester) is a private university, private research university in Rochester, New York. The university grants Undergraduate education, undergraduate and graduate degrees, including Doctorate, do ...
,
University of California, Irvine
The University of California, Irvine (UCI or UC Irvine) is a public land-grant research university in Irvine, California. One of the ten campuses of the University of California system, UCI offers 87 undergraduate degrees and 129 graduate and p ...
,
Case Western Reserve University. In the French-speaking world, partner universities include the
Sorbonne
Sorbonne may refer to:
* Sorbonne (building), historic building in Paris, which housed the University of Paris and is now shared among multiple universities.
*the University of Paris (c. 1150 – 1970)
*one of its components or linked institution, ...
,
University of Montpellier
The University of Montpellier (french: Université de Montpellier) is a public research university located in Montpellier, in south-east of France. Established in 1220, the University of Montpellier is one of the oldest universities in the wor ...
. UJ also maintains strong academic partnership with
Heidelberg University
}
Heidelberg University, officially the Ruprecht Karl University of Heidelberg, (german: Ruprecht-Karls-Universität Heidelberg; la, Universitas Ruperto Carola Heidelbergensis) is a public university, public research university in Heidelberg, B ...
, Germany's oldest university. The Jagiellonian University offers specializations in German law, in conjunction with Heidelberg University and
Johannes Gutenberg University of Mainz
The Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz (german: Johannes Gutenberg-Universität Mainz) is a public research university in Mainz, Rhineland Palatinate, Germany, named after the printer Johannes Gutenberg since 1946. With approximately 32,000 st ...
.
Other cooperation agreements exist with
Charles University Prague,
University of Vienna
The University of Vienna (german: Universität Wien) is a public research university located in Vienna, Austria. It was founded by Duke Rudolph IV in 1365 and is the oldest university in the German-speaking world. With its long and rich hist ...
,
University of Tokyo
, abbreviated as or UTokyo, is a public research university located in Bunkyō, Tokyo, Japan. Established in 1877, the university was the first Imperial University and is currently a Top Type university of the Top Global University Project b ...
,
Saint Petersburg State University,
Technical University of Munich
The Technical University of Munich (TUM or TU Munich; german: Technische Universität München) is a public research university in Munich, Germany. It specializes in engineering, technology, medicine, and applied and natural sciences.
Establis ...
, and
Free University of Berlin
The Free University of Berlin (, often abbreviated as FU Berlin or simply FU) is a public research university in Berlin, Germany. It is consistently ranked among Germany's best universities, with particular strengths in political science and t ...
.
Libraries
The university's main library, the
Jagiellonian Library
Jagiellonian Library ( pl, Biblioteka Jagiellońska, popular nickname ''Jagiellonka'') is the library of the Jagiellonian University in Kraków and with almost 6.7 million volumes, one of the largest libraries in Poland, serving as a public libra ...
(''Biblioteka Jagiellońska''), is one of Poland's largest, with almost 6.5 million volumes; it is a constituent of the Polish National Libraries system. It is home to a world-renowned collection of
medieval
In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire ...
manuscripts, which includes
Copernicus' ''De Revolutionibus'', the ''
Balthasar Behem Codex
The Balthasar Behem Codex, also known as ''Codex Picturatus'', is a collection of the charters, privileges and statutes of the burghers of the city of Kraków. Compiled in 1505, the codex was named for the chancellor at the time, Balthasar Behe ...
'' and the ''
Berlinka.'' The library also has an extensive collection of underground political literature (so-called ''drugi obieg'' or ''
samizdat
Samizdat (russian: самиздат, lit=self-publishing, links=no) was a form of dissident activity across the Eastern Bloc in which individuals reproduced censored and underground makeshift publications, often by hand, and passed the document ...
'') from
Poland's period of Communist rule between 1945 and 1989.
The beginning of the Jagiellonian Library is traditionally considered the same as that of the entire university – in 1364;
[Visiting the Biblioteka Jagiellonska (Jagiellonian Library) in Cracow](_blank)
. Last accessed on 4 May 2007. however, instead of having one central library it had several smaller branches at buildings of various departments (the largest collection was in ''
Collegium Maius
A (plural ), or college, was any association in ancient Rome that acted as a legal entity. Following the passage of the ''Lex Julia'' during the reign of Julius Caesar as Consul and Dictator of the Roman Republic (49–44 BC), and their reaf ...
'', where works related to
theology
Theology is the systematic study of the nature of the divine and, more broadly, of religious belief. It is taught as an academic discipline, typically in universities and seminaries. It occupies itself with the unique content of analyzing the ...
and
liberal arts
Liberal arts education (from Latin "free" and "art or principled practice") is the traditional academic course in Western higher education. ''Liberal arts'' takes the term '' art'' in the sense of a learned skill rather than specifically th ...
were kept). After 1775, during the reforms of
Komisja Edukacji Narodowej
The Commission of National Education ( pl, Komisja Edukacji Narodowej, KEN; lt, Edukacinė komisija) was the central educational authority in the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, created by the Sejm and King Stanisław II August on October 1 ...
, which established the first
Ministry of Education in the world, various small libraries of the university were formally centralised into one public collection in ''Collegium Maius''. During the
partitions of Poland, the library continued to grow thanks to the support of such people as
Karol Józef Teofil Estreicher
Karol Józef Teofil Estreicher (22 November 1827 in Kraków – 30 September 1908 in Kraków) was a Polish bibliographer and librarian who was a founder of the Polish Academy of Learning. While he is known as the "father of Polish bibliograph ...
and
Karol Estreicher. Its collections were made public in 1812. Since 1932, it has been recognised as a
legal deposit
Legal deposit is a legal requirement that a person or group submit copies of their publications to a repository, usually a library. The number of copies required varies from country to country. Typically, the national library is the primary reposi ...
library, comparable to the
Bodleian Library at the
University of Oxford
, mottoeng = The Lord is my light
, established =
, endowment = £6.1 billion (including colleges) (2019)
, budget = £2.145 billion (2019–20)
, chancellor ...
or
Cambridge University Library
Cambridge University Library is the main research library of the University of Cambridge. It is the largest of the over 100 libraries within the university. The Library is a major scholarly resource for the members of the University of Cambri ...
or
Trinity College Library
The Library of Trinity College Dublin () serves Trinity College and the University of Dublin. It is a legal deposit or "copyright library", under which, publishers in Ireland must deposit a copy of all their publications there, without charge ...
in
Dublin
Dublin (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of the Wicklow Mountains range. At the 2016 c ...
, and thus has the right to receive a copy of any book issued by Polish publishers within Poland. In 1940, the library finally obtained a new building of its own, which has subsequently been expanded on two occasions, most recently in 1995–2001. During the
Second World War
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposi ...
, library workers cooperated with
underground universities. Since the 1990s, the library's collection has become increasingly digitised.
In addition to the Jagiellonian Library, the university maintains a large medical library (''Biblioteka Medyczna'') and many other subject specialised libraries in its various faculties and institutes. Finally, the collections of the university libraries' collections are enriched by the presence of the university's archives, which date back to the university's own foundation and record the entire history of its development up to the present day.
Notable alumni
Faculties and departments
The university is divided into the following faculties, which have different organisational sub-structures partly reflecting their history and partly their operational needs. Teaching and research at UJ are organised by these faculties, including a number of additional institutes:
*
Law and Administration
*
Medicine
Medicine is the science and practice of caring for a patient, managing the diagnosis, prognosis, prevention, treatment, palliation of their injury or disease, and promoting their health. Medicine encompasses a variety of health care pr ...
* Pharmacy and Medical Analysis
* Health Care
* Philosophy
* History
* Philology
* Polish Language and Literature
* Physics, Astronomy and Applied Computer Science
* Mathematics and Computer Science
* Chemistry
* Biology
* Earth Sciences
* Management and Social Communication
* International and Political Studies
* Biochemistry, Biophysics and Biotechnology
* University Center of Veterinary Medicine (joint faculty with
Agricultural University of Kraków)
*
National Center of Synchrotron Radiation SOLARIS (off-departmental facility)
Jagiellonian University Collegium Medicum is affiliated with the following hospitals and clinics:
*University Hospital in Krakow-Prokocim
* Children's University Hospital in Krakow
* University Hospital for Orthopedics and Rehabilitation in Zakopane
* Dental University Clinic in Krakow
* John Paul II's Specialist Hospital in Krakow
The new seat of the University Hospital has been recently opened at Prokocim in 2019, as a result of more than 1.2 billion zloty investment projects. As 2022 the University Hospital in Krakow is the biggest supra-regional public hospital in Poland and comprises: 37 clinical departments, 12 diagnostic and research institutes, and 71 out-patient units.
Notable professors
![Krakow 2016 22](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f2/Krakow_2016_22.jpg)
*
Stanisław of Skarbimierz (1360–1431), rector, theologian, lawyer
*
Paweł Włodkowic (1370–1435), lawyer, diplomat and politician, representative of Poland at the
Council of Constance
*
Albert Brudzewski
Albert Brudzewski, ''also'' Albert Blar (of Brudzewo), Albert of Brudzewo or Wojciech Brudzewski (in Latin, ''Albertus de Brudzewo''; c.1445–c.1497) was a Polish astronomer, mathematician, philosopher and diplomat.
Life
Albert (in Polis ...
(1445–1497), astronomer and mathematician
*
Maciej Miechowita
Maciej Miechowita (also known as ''Maciej z Miechowa, Maciej of Miechów, Maciej Karpiga, Matthias de Miechow''; 1457 – 8 September 1523) was a Polish renaissance scholar, professor of Jagiellonian University, historian, chronicler, geogra ...
(1457–1523), historian, chronicler, geographer, medic
*
Marcin Szlachciński (1511/1512–?), scholar, translator, poet and philosopher
*
Jan Brożek
Jan Brożek (''Ioannes Broscius'', ''Joannes Broscius'' or ''Johannes Broscius''; 1 November 1585 – 21 November 1652) was a Polish polymath: a mathematician, astronomer, physician, poet, writer, musician and rector of the Kraków Academy.
Lif ...
(1585–1652), mathematician, physician and astronomer
*
Franz Mertens (1840–1927), mathematician
*
Henryk Jordan (1842–1907), professor of obstetrics
*
Walery Jaworski
Walery Jaworski (born March 20, 1849 in Florynka – died July 17, 1924 in Kraków) was one of the pioneers of gastroenterology in Poland.
In 1899 he described bacteria living in the human stomach that he named ''Vibrio rugula''. He speculated ...
(1849–1924), gastroenterologist
*
Ludwik Rydygier
Ludwik Antoni Rydygier (21 August 1850 – 25 June 1920) was a Polish surgeon, professor of medicine, rector of the University of Lwów and Brigadier General of the Polish Army. He was one of the most distinguished Polish and worldwide known surg ...
(1850–1920), general surgeon
*
Albert Wojciech Adamkiewicz (1850–1921), pathologist, discovered the
Artery of Adamkiewicz and the
Adamkiewicz reaction
*
Napoleon Cybulski (1854-1919), pioneer in endocrinology
*
Edmund Załęski (1863–1932), agrotechnician and chemist
*
Władysław Natanson
Władysław Natanson (1864–1937) was a Polish physicist.
Life
Natanson was head of Theoretical Physics at Kraków University from 1899 to 1935. (1864–1937), physicist
*
Stanisław Estreicher (1869–1939), founder of the Jagiellonian University Museum
*
Tadeusz Estreicher
Tadeusz Estreicher (19 December 1871 – 8 April 1952) was a Polish chemist, historian and cryogenics pioneer.
Life
Tadeusz Estreicher was born in Kraków when the city was part of the Austrian-Hungarian Empire. He grew up in the intellectu ...
(1871–1952), pioneer in cryogenics
*
Marian Smoluchowski (1872–1917), pioneer of statistical physics
*
Bohdan Lepky
Bohdan Teodor Nestor Lepky, ( uk, Богдан Теодор Нестор Лепкий, November 9, 1872, Krehulets, Kingdom of Galicia and Lodomeria, Austria-Hungary – July 21, 1941, Kraków, General Government, Nazi Germany) was a Ukrain ...
(1872–1941), literature
*
Franciszek Bujak
Franciszek Bujak (16 August 1875, in Maszkienice near Brzesko – 21 March 1953, in Kraków) was a Polish academic and historian of economic, political and social history of Poland. He served as professor of the Jagiellonian University twice, in ...
(1875-1953), historian
*
Stanisław Kutrzeba (1876–1946), rector, General Secretary of the
Polish Academy of Learning
The Polish Academy of Arts and Sciences or Polish Academy of Learning ( pl, Polska Akademia Umiejętności), headquartered in Kraków and founded in 1872, is one of two institutions in contemporary Poland having the nature of an academy of scie ...
*
Andrzej Gawroński
Andrzej Gawroński (20 June 1885 in Geneva – 11 January 1927 in Józefów, in the vicinity of Warsaw) was a Polish Indologist, linguist and polyglot. Professor of Jagiellonian University and Lwów University, (starting in 1916), the author of t ...
(1885–1927), founder of the
Polish Oriental Society, master of
Sanskrit
Sanskrit (; attributively , ; nominally , , ) is a classical language belonging to the Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European languages. It arose in South Asia after its predecessor languages had diffused there from the northwest in the late ...
*
Stanisław Kot
Stanisław Kot (22 October 188526 December 1975) was a Polish historian and politician. A native of the Austrian partition of Poland, he was attracted to the cause of Polish independence early in life. As a professor of the Jagiellonian Univer ...
(1885–1975), historian and politician
*
Jan Zawidzki
Jan Wiktor Tomasz Zawidzki (December 20, 1866 in Włóki, Masovian Voivodeship – September 14, 1928 in Warsaw) was a Polish physical chemist and historian of chemistry. He researched mainly chemical kinetics, thermochemistry and autocatalysis. ...
(1886–1928), chemist and historian
*
Tadeusz Sulimirski
Tadeusz Joseph Sulimirski (1 April 1898 – 20 June 1983) was a Polish-born British historian and archaeologist, who emigrated to the United Kingdom soon after the outbreak of World War II in 1939. Sulimirski was a pioneer and leading expert in th ...
(1898–1983), historian and archaeologist, experts on the ancient
Sarmatians
The Sarmatians (; grc, Σαρμαται, Sarmatai; Latin: ) were a large confederation of ancient Eastern Iranian equestrian nomadic peoples of classical antiquity who dominated the Pontic steppe from about the 3rd century BC to the 4th cen ...
*
Roman Grodecki (1889–1964), economic historian
*
Stanisław Smreczyński (1899–1975), zoologist
*
Henryk Niewodniczański
Henryk Niewodniczański (1900–1968) was a Polish physicist, professor at the Jagiellonian University and the creator and director of the Institute of Nuclear Physics in Kraków.
Niewodniczański graduated from the Stefan Batory University in ...
(1900–1968), physicist
*
Adam Vetulani
Adam Joachim Vetulani (20 March 1901 – 25 September 1976) was a Polish historian of medieval and canon law, professor of the Jagiellonian University and a General Secretary of the Polish Academy of Learning (1957–58).
Biography
He was the ...
(1901–1976), historian of medieval and canon law
*
Maria Ludwika Bernhard (1908–1998), archaeologist
*
Wisława Szymborska
Maria Wisława Anna SzymborskaVioletta Szosta gazeta.pl, 9 February 2012. ostęp 2012-02-11 (; 2 July 1923 – 1 February 2012) was a Polish poet, essayist, translator, and recipient of the 1996 Nobel Prize in Literature. Born in Prowent ( ...
(1923–2012), poet, recipient of the 1996
Nobel Prize in Literature
*
Ryszard Gryglewski
Ryszard Jerzy Gryglewski (born 4 August 1932, in Wilno) is a Polish pharmacologist and physician. Member of the Polish Academy of Learning (PAU) and the Polish Academy of Sciences (PAN).prostacyclin
Prostacyclin (also called prostaglandin I2 or PGI2) is a prostaglandin member of the eicosanoid family of lipid molecules. It inhibits platelet activation and is also an effective vasodilator.
When used as a drug, it is also known as epoprosten ...
*
Andrzej Szczeklik (1932–2012), physician
*
Jan Woleński (born 1940), philosopher
*
Piotr Sztompka
Piotr Sztompka (born 2 March 1944, in Warsaw, Poland) is a Polish sociologist known for his work on the theory of social trust. He is professor of sociology at the Jagiellonian University in Kraków, Poland, and has also frequently served as vi ...
(born 1944), sociologist
*
Jan Potempa (born 1955), biologist, recipient of the 2011
Prize of the Foundation for Polish Science
The Prize of the Foundation for Polish Science () is the most prestigious scientific award in Poland given every year from 1992 by a non-governmental non-profit Polish organization, Foundation for Polish Science (). The prize is widely regarded a ...
*
Krzysztof Kościelniak (born 1965), historian
Student associations
In 1851, the university's first student scientific association was founded. In 2021, over 70 student scientific associations exist at the Jagiellonian University, most of them affiliated with Collegium Medicum. Usually, their purpose is to promote students' scientific achievements by organizing lecture sessions, science
excursion
An excursion is a trip by a group of people, usually made for leisure, education, or physical purposes. It is often an adjunct to a longer journey or visit to a place, sometimes for other (typically work-related) purposes.
Public transportatio ...
s, and international student conferences, such as the International Workshop for Young Mathematicians, which is organized by the
Zaremba Association of Mathematicians.
The links below provide further information on student activities at the Jagiellonian:
University Study Oriented System (USOS)Scientific Circles
Student OrganizationsEnsembles
See also
*
List of medieval universities
The list of medieval universities comprises universities (more precisely, '' studia generalia'') which existed in Europe during the Middle Ages.Rüegg 1992, pp. XIX–XX It also includes short-lived foundations and European educational ins ...
*
Nawojka, the university's legendary first female student from the 15th century
*
Sonderaktion Krakau
''Sonderaktion Krakau'' was a German operation against professors and academics of the Jagiellonian University and other universities in German-occupied Kraków, Poland, at the beginning of World War II. It was carried out as part of the much bro ...
, a
Nazi German
Nazi Germany (lit. "National Socialist State"), ' (lit. "Nazi State") for short; also ' (lit. "National Socialist Germany") (officially known as the German Reich from 1933 until 1943, and the Greater German Reich from 1943 to 1945) was ...
operation against professors and academics from the University of Kraków
*
Neuronus IBRO & IRUN Neuroscience ForumScholars and Literati at the University of Cracow (1316–1800)Repertorium Eruditorum Totius Europae – RETE
Notes and references
External links
Official homepageJagiellonian University panoramic view
{{Authority control
Universities and colleges in Poland
Science and technology in Poland
Educational institutions established in the 14th century
1364 establishments in Europe
14th-century establishments in Poland
Public universities
Universities and colleges in the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth