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9 February 2010

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The Collegium Maius Museum of the Jagiellonian University in Cracow
THE COLLEGIUM MAIUS
languages: Polish  / English 
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The Collegium Maius Museum of the Jagiellonian University
Muzeum Uniwersytetu Jagiellońskiego
Collegium Maius
ul. Jagiellońska 15, 31-010 Kraków
Director: prof. dr hab. Stanisław Waltoś
tel. (+48 12) 422 05 49, 663 13 07
tel./fax (+48 12) 422 27 34
www.uj.edu.pl/muzeum

Opening hours: Closed Sundays and public holidays; open Saturdays, 11am-2pm, other days, 11am-3pm.

Cracow's oldest university building, the Collegium Maius acquired its present-day shape in the fifteenth century. Reminiscent of the architecture of Italian universities of the time, the building has a quadrangle court and cloisters on the first floor, stretching along all of its wings.

The origins of the holdings of the Jagiellonian University go back to the fifteenth century. It was in 1492 that Marcin Bylica, the Polish scholar and lecturer at the universities of Cracow, Padua and Bologna, presented his astronomical instruments to Cracow's Alma Mater, thus starting a collection of "scientific objects and curios". Grown for years through royal and magnate endowments and gifts by scholars and collectors, the holdings became dispersed during World War II. Luckily, most of them were returned after the War and made available for the public to see in 1964, on the 600th anniversary of the Jagiellonian University.

While the Museum boasts a rich collection of works of art in the areas of painting, sculpture, prints and drawings, and decorative arts, its uniqueness is defined by its collection of old scientific instruments. Some two thousand items strong, it is the only collection of such class in Poland and one of the most valuable ones in Europe. The exhibits include astronomical instruments, notably those used by Marcin Bylica in the fifteenth century as well as a unique eleventh century Arab astrolabe; physical and optical instruments; chemical and pharmaceutical vessels; a collection of globes, the oldest of which date from the fifteenth and sixteenth century, with the so-called Jagiellonian Globe on which America was first shown; Fifteenth through nineteenth century clocks, eighteenth century microscopes, thermometers, balances, weights, and the like are also exhibited. Together with the art collection, these valuable holdings form one of the permanent exhibitions inside the Collegium Maius's historical interiors. Other permanent exhibitions include Medieval Painting and Sculpture, West-European Paintings from the Collections of Wiktoria Oseka and Ewelina Lipko-Lipczynska and Sciences Old and New. The latter exhibition opened in 2000 and has been highly popular with visitors. Its interactive character allows everyone (no special background is required) to do simple mathematical, astronomical and physical experiments and calculations using instrument models. Visitors are also attracted by the reconstructed interior of an alchemist workshop.

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VIDEO COVERAGE  PHOTO COVERAGE  PAINTING  GRAPHIC ART  DRAWING  PHOTOGRAPHY  PORTRAITS  POLISH FILM 
RECENTLY ADDED
"Wciąż masz chamie złoty róg? Wciąż masz chamie czapkę z piór" - works from the exhibition by Wiesław Rosocha
June 5 - June 20, 2009
"Wciąż masz chamie złoty róg? Wciąż masz chamie czapkę z piór" - preview of the exhibition by Wiesław Rosocha
June 4, 2009
Museum of Modern Art in New York will host a screening of Bartek Konopka's Oscar nominated documentary "Rabbit à la Berlin" on February 28.
On February 22, a play by Dorota Masłowska "Miedzy nami dobrze jest" will premiere at Teater Galeasen in Stockholm.
The European Fairy Tale Centre in Pacanów (Świętokrzyskie region) will open on February 24, 2010.
Art from the collection of Kraków's Czartoryski Museum will be on display in the Castle in Niepołomice, starting in spring 2010. This is due to renovation work in the Czartoryski Museum scheduled to end in 2012. Niepołomice Castle will host around 1700 works of art, including paintings by Paolo Veneziano, Pieter Brueghel the Younger and Lorenzo Lotto.
On February 12, "The Ghost Writer", the newest film by Roman Polański, will officialy screen at the Berlinale Film Festival. A week later, on February 19, the film will premiere in theaters in Poland, Switzerland, and in the U.S.
On February 10, 2010 in Rome's Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia, Krystian Zimerman will give a Chopin piano recital marking the Chopin Year celebrations in Italy.
The 46th Wrocław Jazz Festival "Jazz nad Odrą" will start on February 28. The festival will last until March 6, 2010. For more info see www.jnofestival.pl.
The 7th edition of "Misteria Paschalia" in Kraków will take place on March 29 - April 5, 2010.
In honor of the Chopin Anniversary Year, 1st Chopin International Piano Competition in Hartford, Connecticut, will be held from February 20-21, 2010.
Tchaikovski Gala with Grzegorz Nowak as conductor - London, Cadogan Hall, February 18, 2010.
Krystian Zimerman at Chopin Birthday Concert 1 - London, Royal Festival Hall - Southbank Centre, February 22, 2010.
The 8th Kinoteka Polish Film Festiwal in London opens on March 4 and will last untill April 12, 2010.
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