The
Collegium Novum (
LatinLatin is an Italic language originally spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. Through the Roman conquest, Latin spread throughout the Mediterranean and a large part of Europe...
: "New College") is the
Neo-GothicThe Gothic Revival is an architectural movement which began in the 1740s in England. Its popularity grew rapidly in the early nineteenth century, when increasingly serious and learned admirers of neo-Gothic styles sought to revive medieval forms in contrast to the classical styles prevalent at the...
main building of the
Jagiellonian UniversityThe Jagiellonian University was established in 1364 by Casimir III the Great in Kraków...
in
KrakówKraków , in English also spelled Krakow or Cracow and pronounced
, is one of the largest and oldest cities in Poland and a popular tourist destination. Its historic centre was inscribed on the list of World Heritage Sites as the first of its kind...
,
PolandPoland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe . Poland is bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...
, built in 1873-87. Based on a design by architect Feliks Księżarski to match the oldest building of the University, it was opened for the 500th anniversary of the University's foundation. The
Collegium Novum replaced a former academic boarding school called
Jeruzalem, consumed by fire in the mid-19th century.
The building contains lecture rooms including an impressive assembly hall (called
Aula), Rector's, Deans', and other university authorities' offices as well as those of a number of prominent professors.
The
Collegium Novum (
LatinLatin is an Italic language originally spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. Through the Roman conquest, Latin spread throughout the Mediterranean and a large part of Europe...
: "New College") is the
Neo-GothicThe Gothic Revival is an architectural movement which began in the 1740s in England. Its popularity grew rapidly in the early nineteenth century, when increasingly serious and learned admirers of neo-Gothic styles sought to revive medieval forms in contrast to the classical styles prevalent at the...
main building of the
Jagiellonian UniversityThe Jagiellonian University was established in 1364 by Casimir III the Great in Kraków...
in
KrakówKraków , in English also spelled Krakow or Cracow and pronounced
, is one of the largest and oldest cities in Poland and a popular tourist destination. Its historic centre was inscribed on the list of World Heritage Sites as the first of its kind...
,
PolandPoland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe . Poland is bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...
, built in 1873-87. Based on a design by architect Feliks Księżarski to match the oldest building of the University, it was opened for the 500th anniversary of the University's foundation. The
Collegium Novum replaced a former academic boarding school called
Jeruzalem, consumed by fire in the mid-19th century.
The building contains lecture rooms including an impressive assembly hall (called
Aula), Rector's, Deans', and other university authorities' offices as well as those of a number of prominent professors. It is the Jagiellonian University's administrative centre.
Collegium Novum was opened on June 14 1887, commencing several years of debate and construction. The decision regarding the allocation of subsidies was made in the
Austro-HungarianAustria–Hungary, also known as the Austro-Hungarian Empire, the Dual Monarchy or the k.u.k. Monarchy, or Dual State, was a monarchic union between the crowns of the Austrian Empire and the Kingdom of Hungary in Central Europe...
capital of
ViennaVienna is the capital of the Republic of Austria and also one of the nine states of Austria. Vienna is Austria's primary city, with a population of about 1.7 million , and is by far the largest city in Austria, as well as its cultural, economic, and political centre. It is the 10th largest city by...
, with the University's vital interests defended by Julian Dunajewski, the then Austrian Finance Minister. The work might not have begun at all had it not been for his commitment, as well as that of his brother
Cardinal Albin DunajewskiAlbin Dunajewski was a political activist and Bishop of Kraków.In 1882, he ordained Brother Raphael Kalinowski as a Priest of the Discalced Carmelite Order. Father Raphael was later canonized in 1991 by Pope John Paul II....
.
Already at the time of its grand opening, the assembly hall (
Aula) of the new building was too small to accommodate all guests on all occasions, even though the number of students did not exceed 1200 with approximately one hundred professors. A debate arose whether it was necessary to invite professors' wives to grand ceremonies. Most academics, in keeping with the prevailing trend of the time, were against the inviting of women guests. In the University's archives there is a formal invitation reading: “Zoll requires no ticket and wishes the ceremony to be exclusively male.” In another statement, Edward Janczewski “expresses his opposition to the idea of admitting ladies to the ceremonies.”
http://www.uj.edu.pl/uniwersytet/inwestycje/chwalba_wyklad_eng.pdf
Until the end of
First World WarWorld War I , also known as the First World War, the Great War, and the War to End All Wars, was a global military conflict which involved most of the world's great powers, assembled in two opposing alliances: the Triple Entente and the Triple Alliance...
, a portrait of His Imperial Majesty
Franz Joseph I of AustriaFranz Joseph I , reigned as Emperor of Austria and King of Bohemia from 1848 until 1916 and as King of Hungary and Crotia from 1848 until 1916 .-Early life:Franz Joseph was born in the Schönbrunn Palace in Vienna, the oldest son of...
, painted by Kazimierz Pochwalski, hung in the Aula of the Collegium. On October 31 1918 a group of University students tore it to pieces, manifesting their determination for the recreation of an independent
Republic of PolandThe Second Polish Republic, Second Commonwealth of Poland or interwar Poland refers to Poland between the two world wars; from the creation of an independent Polish state in the aftermath of World War I, to the invasion of Poland in 1939 by Nazi Germany, the Soviet Union, and the Slovak Republic,...
. However, a number of other paintings did survive, including portraits of the University's founding fathers Casimir the Great and Władysław Jagiełło dating back to the early 1860s, a picture of Queen Jadwiga painted in 1900 to celebrate her Jubilee, as well as the works of
Jan MatejkoJan Matejko was a Polish painter known for paintings of notable historical Polish political and military events. His most famous works include oil on canvas paintings like Battle of Grunwald, paintings of numerous other battles and court scenes, and a gallery of Polish kings...
, including his painting entitled
Copernicus: Conversation with God. The chairs in the assembly hall were designed by Tadeusz Stryjeński.
On the upper floor of the College there is a lecture hall named after Józef Szujski – now used by historians – with the commemorative plaque in remembrance of the events surrounding
Nazi GermanNazi Germany and the Third Reich are the common English names for Germany between 1933 and 1945, while it was led by Adolf Hitler and the National Socialist German Worker's Party . The name Third Reich refers to the state as the successor to the Holy Roman Empire of the Middle Ages and the German...
action called
Sonderaktion KrakauSonderaktion Krakau was the codename for a German operation against professors and academics from the University of Kraków and other Kraków universities at the beginning of World War II....
where 183 professors were arrested and later sent to camps in
SachsenhausenSachsenhausen may refer to:* Sachsenhausen , a quarter of Oranienburg, Germany* Sachsenhausen concentration camp, a detention facility established there in 1936* Sachsenhausen , a quarter of Frankfurt am Main, Germany...
and
DachauDachau concentration camp was the first Nazi concentration camp opened in Germany, located on the grounds of an abandoned munitions factory near the medieval town of Dachau, about 16 km northwest of Munich in the state of Bavaria which is located in southern Germany.Opened in March 1933, it...
. The plaque reads: "For the freedom of spirit and service to science and nation of Jagiellonian University professors deceitfully and forcefully taken away from this hall and imprisoned by the Nazi occupant on November 6, 1939."
The restoration of the Neo-Gothic architectural structure took place at the end of the 20th century. It was faced with a number of challenges, notably the task of reviving the original form of the building while simultaneously improving its functionality as an educational facility. The restoration was carried out on its façade in 1994 along with the modernization of the assembly hall, which was completed in 1999. The collaboration of specialists from various disciplines allowed for both restoration and functional needs of the Collegium to be met successfully.
See also
- German AB Action operation in Poland during World War II
- Collegium Maius, the oldest residence of the Jagiellonian University
The Collegium Maius , in Kraków, Poland, is the Jagiellonian University's oldest building, dating back to the 15th century. It stands at the corner of ulica Jagiellońska and ulica Świętej Anny The Collegium Maius (Latin for "Great College"), in Kraków, Poland, is the Jagiellonian University's...