THE BUILDINGS OF POLAND’S OLDEST UNIVERSITY T
he history of the Jagiellonian University has been made and continues to be shaped primarily by its human resources, the academic community of its staff and students. Its eminent professors and alumni – to name but Copernicus and John Paul II – have left a permanent record not only in the history of their alma mater and their country, but also in world history. But we can hardly disavow the observation that the University’s buildings have made a salient contribution to its story. Many of them have a rich legacy of their own, often embellished by a panoply of legends which have grown up over the years or even centuries. I can hardly hope to exhaust this aspect of the University’s 650 years of history in a short essay, so I shall concentrate only on a selection of its buildings, both ancient and modern.
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The Jagiellonian University’s arVice-Rector of the Jagiellonian University chitectural fabric is a fine example for Finance and Human Resources, Professor Jacek Popiel of a successful blend of tradition with modernity. The University’s oldest building on hi- was carried out to recover its appearance th th storical record is Collegium Maius, situated at the turn of the 15 and 16 century. The on the corner of ulica św. Anny and ulica Libraria, Stuba Communis, and especially Jagiellońska. Stanisław of Skarbimierz, the Aula are the precincts where you can Rector of the University on its renewal in feel the University’s historic atmosphere 1400, described the purpose of this place most intensely. Currently the Collegium aptly and aphoristically: “This small ho- Maius at ulica Jagiellońska 15 accommouse is to encompass all the wisdom in the dates the University Museum, but it is also world. So, Polish student, come to study the venue for the principal ceremonies, such where prudence and justice abide.” In as the conferral of honorary doctorates on the College’s rich history there have been celebrities from the arts and sciences. The times of glory and times of oblivion, fires, building second in rank after Collegium conversions, and modernisations. Its current Maius in the historic university quarter form is a result largely of work conducted in (sometimes referred to as the First Campus) the mid- and latter part of the 20th century, is Collegium Novum at ul. Gołębia 24, howhen a comprehensive restoration project using the Rector’s office and headquarters
The court of Collegium Maius