Jagiellonian University, Medical College

About The University
In 1364, after many years of endeavour, King Casimir the Great received permission from the Pope to establish a university in Krakow, the capital of the Kingdom of Poland. It was the second university to be founded in Central Europe, after Prague in 1348. Soon afterwards other universities were established in the area: in Vienna (1365), Pecs (1367), Erfurt (1379) and Heidelberg (1386).

However, the Studium Generale in Krakow, as the school was then called, started functioning practically only in 1367. It consisted of three faculties only: liberal arts, medicine and law, as Pope Urban V did not grant permission to establish a faculty of theology, regarded as the highest ranking discipline. Similarly, he refused to grant such a permission to the Universities of Vienna, Pecs and Erfurt.

Following the pattern adopted at the Universities of Bologna and Padua, the students had the right to elect the Rector. The University was most probably given accommodation at the Royal Castle on Wawel Hill. King Casimir's premature death in 1370 and the total lack of interest in the University demonstrated by his successor, King Louis of Anjou (King of Poland and Hungary), led to its gradual collapse.

The University (or the Academy, as it was called then) was restored owing to the endeavours of Queen Jadwiga, who pleaded its case with the Pope in Avignon and later bequeathed her personal effects to the University, which was re-established in 1400, after its benefactress's death. Henceforth it was a full medieval university, consisting of four faculties. As it followed the pattern of the University of Paris, its Rector was elected by the professors only. Colleges with accommodation for the professors and dormitories for students were founded.

The entire medieval world was based on a hierarchical system, with religious matters considered most crucial. Therefore the medieval university mirrored it in its structure, and thus liberals arts, that is philosophy, held the humblest position. A student began his studies at the liberal arts faculty, and only when he had completed the course he could continue at one of the other faculties, of which the faculty of theology was considered the highest one. Similarly, a university professor's career started at the arts faculty and could be crowned with a professorship in theology. This hierarchy also meant that that the remuneration of a professor of theology was considerably higher than that of other professors.

The Golden Age
The restored Krakow University soon established itself in the world of learning. Its first Rector, Stanislaw of Skarbimierz (d. 1431), the author of the famous work De bello iusto, is today regarded as one of the founders of international law. Another Rector, Pawel Wlodkowic (ca. 1370 - ca. 1435), argued successfully at the Council of Constance that it was inadmissible to convert heathens by force.

In the second half of the fifteenth century the Krakow schools of mathematics and astrology flourished. Their most eminent representatives were: Marcin Krol of zurawica (1422 - before 1460); Marcin Bylica of Olkusz (1433 - 1493), who later became the chief astrologer to King Matthias Corvinus in Buda; Marcin Biem (ca. 1470 - 1540), who devised a reform of the Julian calendar; Jan of Glogow (1445 - 1507), the author of numerous mathematical and astronomical tracts, known all over Europe; Wojciech of Brudzewo (ca. 1446 - 1495), the master to many students who later became eminent scholars in other European universities. In that period, in the years 1491 - 1495, Mikolaj Kopernik (Nicolaus Copernicus) studied liberal arts in Krakow. In his later years he made it clear that he was greatly indebted to Krakow University. The high academic status of the University was reflected in the fact that in the years 1433 - 1510 as many as 44 per cent of the students came from other countries than Poland.

Among those who studied in Krakow were such renowned scholars as Jan Virdung of Hassfurt (a professor at Heidelberg University), Johann Vollmar (a professor at Wittenberg), and the leading lights of the astronomical school in Vienna - Konrad Celtis, Erasmus Horitz and Stefan Roslein. Krakow, together with Seville and Toledo, was a major centre for the study of alchemy, in which mainly professors of medicine were involved, such as Maciej Miechowita (1457 - 1523) and Adam of Bochen (? - 1514). The renown of Krakow in the field of alchemy most probably contributed to the legend that Doctor Faustus sojourned in the city.

The Krakow Alma Mater was also a leading centre for the study of geography. Its most outstanding geographer was Maciej Miechowita, also a prominent physician and historian. He was the author of the notable and widely translated Tractatus de duabus Sarmatiis (1517), which provided the first systematic description of the lands between the Vistula, the Don and the Caspian Sea. In the early sixteenth century Krakow University was the first in Europe to teach Greek, and Hebrew soon afterwards.

From the Dawn of Grandeur to Kollataj Reform
In the first half of the sixteenth century the Krakow Academy rejected the ideas of the Reformation. Censorship by both the Bishop and the Rector effectively eliminated from Krakow all printed matter regarded as heretical. A small group of professors who supported the Reformation left the city, and the University, which adopted a strictly scholastic approach, gradually ceased to attract large numbers of students. Consequently, dormitory halls for German and Hungarian students were closed, and only Polish and Lithuanian students continued to study in Krakow.

Also, the number of young noblemen at the University steadily declined, as the Polish nobility had gained the rights to hold important offices irrespective of academic requirements. Young noblemen interested in learning began to study abroad, particularly in Bologna and Padua. The Krakow Academy still boasted a number of eminent scholars, both Polish and foreign, it introduced lectures on Copernicus' fundamental work De Revolutionibus in the years 1578 - 1580, and among its graduates in that period were the famous writers Jan Kochanowski, Andrzej Frycz Modrzewski, Marcin Kromer and Mikolaj Rej, yet the golden age of the University was coming to a close.

In the seventeenth century the Academy - involved in a violent conflict with the Jesuits who, supported by King Sigismund III, attempted to control it - increasingly conservative and scholastic, lost international academic status. It shared the nation's declining position on the European stage. However, in spite of adversity, the Academy managed to establish a wide network of associated schools, known as "Academic Colonies". The first of them was its own secondary school, Nowodworski College, founded after the reform of the teaching system in 1586. But the Academy also experienced the siege of Krakow by the Swedes in 1655 and was plundered after the surrender of the city. The few notable academics at the Academy were only locally known. Among them were Jan Brozek (1585 - 1652), an outstanding mathematician and propagator of Copernicus' theory, and Stanislaw Pudlowski (1597 - 1645), who devised an universal measurement of length. In the late seventeenth century the University was rightly proud as its former student became King of Poland as John III Sobieski.

In the eighteenth century the University continued to decline, yet some symptoms of change became gradually apparent. The systematic teaching of German and French was introduced, as well as lectures in Polish law, geography and military engineering. In 1748 the Chair of Natural Science was established, yet attempts to attract foreign lecturers failed. It was only the National Education Commission, and particularly its inspector, Hugo Kollataj, later the University Rector, who managed to accomplish fundamental reforms at the University, which was then renamed the Main Crown School. A new organisational structure was introduced and a number of academic facilities were founded, such as the astronomical observatory, the botanical gardens, clinics and laboratories. All lectures were in Polish, and scholars educated at foreign universities in the spirit of the Enlightenment were appointed professors, to disseminate Enlightenment ideas among students.

The University community was actively involved in the Kosciuszko Insurrection of 1794, while the University authorities donated virtually all its valuables to the national cause.

The Struggle for Survival
The third and final Partition of Poland posed a serious threat to the very existence of the University, but fortunately it was saved by the intervention of Professors Jan sniadecki and Jozef Bogucki in Vienna. However, the University was subjected to the process of obliterating its Polish character and to its gradual reduction to the secondary school status.

This threat disappeared after Austria's defeat in the war with France in 1809, when Krakow was incorporated into the Duchy of Warsaw. Yet the city was subjected to centralising policies within the Duchy, and later, when it had the status of the Free City of Krakow (1825 - 1846), to a number of restrictive and harassing acts from the 'protector' powers. In 1848 Krakow was again incorporated into the Austrian Empire, but after long years when the University had been regarded by the government in Vienna as a 'hotbed of revolution and anti-government political activities', it gradually became a self-governing body and regained the right to teach in Polish. This was certainly achieved in the result of the process of political liberalisation within Austria and followed the granting of autonomy to Galicia, the part of Poland under Austrian rule. It was the beginning of another golden age for the University, which had been renamed the Jagiellonian University in 1817.

The Golden Age Returns
Once again the University became a major academic centre. Scientific achievements of the time included the work of the following professors: the chemist Karol Olszewski (1846 - 1915) and the physicist Zygmunt Wroblewski (1845 - 1888), who were the first to liquefy oxygen and nitrogen from the air in 1883, and later also other gases; the physiologist Napoleon Cybulski (1854 - 1919), who explained the functioning of adrenaline; the anatomopathologist Tadeusz Browicz (1847 - 1928), who identified the typhoid microbe; the physicist Marian Smoluchowski (1872 - 1917), the author of major works on the kinetic theory of matter; the chemist Leon Marchlewski (1869 - 1946), who conducted research on chlorophyll; Paulin Kazimierz zurawski (1866 - 1953) and Stanislaw Zaremba (1863 - 1942), whose outstanding research gave origin to a new school of mathematics; their work was further developed by their eminent disciples.

The awareness of Poles of their own history was largely shaped by the works of the illustrious Krakow historians, particularly by Michal Bobrzynski (1849 - 1935) and Jozef Szujski (1835 - 1883). Other famous scholars were Kazimierz Morawski (1852 - 1925), who specialised in classical studies, and Leon Sternbach (1864 - 1940), a specialist in Byzantine studies. The Law Faculty played an important role in developing legal procedures, and its most prominent members were: Edmund Krzymuski (1852 - 1928), professor of penal law; Fryderyk Zoll Jr (1865 - 1948), professor of civil law; Stanislaw Wroblewski (1868 - 1938), professor of Roman and civil law.

The above were only some of the many outstanding professors of the time. What is most important, the high academic achievement of the University was largely due to a considerable expansion of its infrastructure. The number of chairs increased threefold, so that by the last academic year before the First World War there were ninety seven of them, while the number of students in the same year was over three thousand. They were mostly male, but in 1897 first female students were admitted to study pharmacy. They were gradually accepted by other faculties; the last of them to admit women was the Law Faculty in 1918.

The Difficult Twentieth Century
After Poland achieved independence in 1918, the number of Polish universities increased from two (Krakow and Lvov) to five, as the Universities in Warsaw and Vilnius were restored, and the University in Poznan was founded. The academic staff of those schools was largely drawn from the resources of the Jagiellonian University. In the inter-war years Krakow University was considerably expanded. New clinical facilities for the Faculty of Medicine were built, and a modern building to house the Jagiellonian Library was completed.

New departments were established, such as the Department of Pedagogy and the Slavic Department in the Philosophy Faculty, and the Physical Education Department in the Faculty of Medicine. However, the University was also affected by the deep political divides within the Polish society of the time and by the overwhelming economic depression. Many political conflicts between students of widely different political views often resulted in violence. The Senate of the Jagiellonian University repeatedly protested against the authoritarian rule of the government, particularly against the trial of opposition politicians at Brest in 1931, as well as against limiting the Universities' autonomy.

The Great Depression in the years 1930 - 1934 severely affected the finances of the young Polish state, which resulted in drastic cuts in expenditure on education. Financial strictures meant that the University lost five chairs in 1933. However, the decision concerning the chairs to be abolished was of a political nature, and affected the chairs headed by professors who supported the opposition political parties, like Professor Stanislaw Kot, whose Chair in History of Culture was abolished.

Nonetheless, in spite of difficulties, the Jagiellonian University maintained its high academic reputation. Professor Tadeusz Banachiewicz (1882 - 1954), mathematician, astronomer and geodesist, devised a new method of mathematical calculation, known as Cracovian calculation. The Krakow School of Linguistic boasted such outstanding scholars as: Jan Rozwadowski (1867 - 1935), Jan los (1860 - 1928), Kazimierz Nitsch (1874 - 1958) and Tadeusz Lehr-Splawinski (1891 - 1965). Other major academic achievements were the School of Differential Equations, developed by Tadeusz Wazewski (1896 - 1972), a disciple of Stanislaw Zaremba, which became internationally recognised after the Second World War, and the School of Analytical Functions, developed by Franciszek Leja (1885 - 1979). Other notable academics were: Konstanty Michalski (1879 - 1947), specialist in medieval philosophy; Rafal Taubenschlag (1881 - 1958), professor of Roman law; Adam Krzyzanowski (1873 - 1963), professor of political economics; Tadeusz Sinko (1877 - 1963), professor of Classics and writer on classical culture; Roman Dyboski (1883 - 1945), professor of English literature; Wladyslaw Konopczynski (1880 - 1952), historian, a great expert on the eighteenth century period.

The Jagiellonian University was dramatically affected by the German occupation of Poland. On 6th November the Nazis ostensibly invited the University professors and other teachers to a lecture by Obersturmbannfuhrer Muller. The lecture turned out to be a trap. 144 University staff were arrested by the Gestapo, together with some students, 21 professors of the Academy of Mining and others, and sent to a concentration camp. In total 183 persons were imprisoned.

The University was closed, its property dismantled, destroyed, looted or sent to Germany. The University suffered losses also from the Soviets. Among the Polish POWs murdered at Katyn and Kharkov were fourteen Reserve Officers - University teachers and graduates. Yet the other university staff resolved to persevere in the face of adversity. University courses were taught in a clandestine way, flaunting the strict Nazi ban on all but the most basic education. During the war period this underground university had about 800 students.

Video Presentation

The Institute of Public Health Jagiellonian University Medical College Cracow

The Institute of Public Health in the Faculty of Health Sciences Jagiellonian University Medical College is the former Cracow School of Public Health, a name which has become engrained in the memory of many people, as it was the first school of public health in Poland. If you wish to find out more about the development of our institution, please visit the section titled History. Both under the former and the present names, we conducted and continue to conduct research and development activities as well as training within the broadly understood field of public health. The focus of our interest and work is issues relating to those aspects of health care that fall outside medicine, such as: health organization and health economics, social aspects of health care systems, administration and management, epidemiology, health promotion, issues of community health, managing pharmaceuticals and medical materials, computerisation and issues relating to the dissemination of information within health care.