Collegium Maius (Jagiellonian University)

Collegium Maius at ul. Jagiellonska 15 is the oldest surviving building of the Jagiellonian University in Krakow, in southern Poland. The university was founded in 1364 by Casimir the Great, but it declined after his death and was refounded in 1400 by Queen Jadwiga and King Wladyslaw Jagiello, who funded its expansion. The college was housed in the Gothic building from the early 15th century, and the arcaded courtyard with its cross-ribbed vaults was completed in the late 15th century. Nicolaus Copernicus studied at the university between about 1491 and 1495, and the institution educated generations of Polish scholars, clergy and statesmen. The building has been the home of the Jagiellonian University Museum since 1867. During the German occupation, 183 professors and staff were arrested on 6 November 1939 in the Sonderaktion Krakau, an event commemorated in the building. The museum holds scientific instruments from the 15th to 18th centuries, including astrolabes and globes. The best known is the Jagiellonian Globe, from around 1510, which is one of the earliest to show the name America. The Treasury contains university insignia, medals, and the mace, while the Professors' Common Room (Stuba Communis) preserves a Gothic hall with a carved ceiling and stained glass. The library hall, the Aula with portraits of benefactors, and a collection of historic paintings are also on the route. Visits are organised as guided or audio-guided tours moving through rooms in a broadly chronological order, from the medieval foundations to the Enlightenment. The courtyard clock presents a mechanical procession of figures at set times of day, drawing small crowds. Restoration in the 19th and 20th centuries recovered the Gothic character after the building had been altered, and conservation continues. Visitors should allow about an hour.