Celebrating the 550th birth anniversary of Nicolaus Copernicus, the Jagiellonian University Museum will present a new exhibition about the famous astronomer authored by Prof. Aleksander Skotnicki. Its official title is "Nicholas Copernicus and the Jagiellonian University on Cracow’s postcards and postage stamps issued in Poland and worlwide".
The exhibition features a part of the Museum's collection including postcards issued one century ago by the Cracow-based Salon of Polish Painters with depictions of university building and the Nicolaus Copernicus monument. The unveiling of the statue in the Collegium Maius courtyard was one of the key events during the 500th anniversary of the restoration of Cracow University celebrated in 1900. Additionally, visitors attending the exhibition will be able to see postage stamps and first-day covers featuring both stamps and commemorative seal imprints depicting the astronomer which were issued both in Poland and abroad. The exhibition allows us to look at the creator of the heliocentric theory through a rich graphic collection from all corners of the world.
The exhibition is displayed in the Collegium Maius cellar from Monday to Sunday between 9 am and 5:30 pm. Free admission.
All important information concerning the activity of the Jagiellonian University Museum is available online: https://maius.uj.edu.pl/.
Aleksander Skotnicki, full professor of the Jagiellonian University Collegium Medicum, deputy dean of the JU Medical Faculty in 1999–2002, for 25 years until 2018 head of the Chair and Clinic of Hematology based at 17 Kopernika Street, member of the Polish Academy of Learning (PAU).
He was the chairman in the Board of the Professor Julian Aleksandrowicz Foundation for Prevention and Mitigation of Blood Diseases and the chairman of the Stradom Centre of Dialog Foundation, an institution bringing together people of various nationalities, creeds and generations, including the former Jewish denizens of Cracow who lived in the city before the Second World War. For his achievements as a medical professional and social activist, Prof. Aleksander Skotnicki received numerous awards, including the Gloria Medicinae (2007), Honoris Gratia (2006), St. Christopher (2014) and Klemens Bąkowski (2022) medal. He is a laureate of the City of Cracow Prize for Science and Arts (2016) and the Jan Karski (2009) and Fr. Stanisław Musiał (2015) awards.
Prof. Skotnicki authored numerous exhibitions, books and other publications on the history of Cracow, its denizens, and the Jagiellonian University. As a philatelist and philocardists, he propagates the legacy of the Salon of Polish Writers run by Henryk Frist at 27 Floriańska Street. The salon issued postcards featuring various locations of Cracow and university buildings at the beginning of the 20th century. He has also been an active populariser of Nicolaus Copernicus, the most famous alumnus of our Alma Mater, and the author of the monograph The Nicolaus Copernicus monument in the Collegium Maius courtyard published in 2015.