The article presents the history of Alma Mater Jenensis from its inception in 1548 untill the early 20th century. The University of Jena, also known as Salana (after the river Saale, on which Jena lies), is one of the oldest German universities. Since the 16th century, it has been a centre of Lutheran thought. In the end 17th and 18th centuries prominent professors such as mathematician Erhard Weigel, historian Johann Andreas Bose, physician Werner Rolfinck, historian Friedrich Schiller, philosophers Johann Gottlieb Fichte, Friedrich Wilhelm Joseph Schelling and Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel conducted research or taught here.
Since the 19th century, the University has cooperated with the Zeiss company manufacturing optical equipment.
The author also discussed the collections of the Collegium Jenense and generally of the University.
 

The article deals with the history of two student boarding houses in Gołębia Street in Kraków, occupying two opposite blocks. The German Student Boarding House (also known as the New Boarding House) was built in 1487, as a wooden house. Initially it was situated in
św. Anny Street or perhaps already in Gołębia Street in the block of development (No 27) which also housed the Collegium Maius and the Collegium Minus. The boarding house was burnt in 1523 and was reconstructed in 1534, also as a wooden building. At that time it was already for certain in Gołębia Street, until it was finally destroyed by the Swedish in 1655. The empty plot was incorporated into the university garden in 1668. Another New Student Boarding House was situated within the opposite, irregular block of development, today no longer extant, and replaced by the Collegium Novum in the late 19th-century. Earlier there was a number of properties on the site, with two fifteenth-century Boarding Houses – the Philosophers’ House and the Jerusalem House in the corner. In 1564, the townhouse adjoining the Philosophers’ Boarding House on the west became the New Boarding House funded by the Płock Bishop Andrzej Noskowski. In the years 1589–1643 it housed the university secondary school – Classes. After the Classes moved to a building in św. Anny Street (No 12), it was for long a university tenement house known as Stare Classes, and from 1783 a private house. The latter was pulled down at the end of the 19th century for the Collegium Novum.
 

Polish Science in the middle and central east in the years 1942–1949
Part I. Persia

In the years 1942–1949 a few Polish science institutions and one higher school were active in Persia and Lebanon. They were created and staffed by scientists who were deported to eastern territories of the Soviet Union in 1940/1941. After the Polish-Soviet agreement in 1941, they left the Soviet Union with the Polish Army under General W. Anders. Most of them formerly worked at the Stefan Batory University in Vilnius. The leading figure involved in the organisation of those institutions was Professor Stanisław Kościałkowski. The emerging organisations, modelled after science institutes in Vilnius, conducted scientific research, collected source materials, created libraries, published journals and scientific publications and educated students. They closed when the Poles left Lebanon.
 

Stained Glass Windows from Grodziec. Part I

The group of 14 stained glass windows from Grodziec (Gröditzberg, Gröditzburg) near Złotoryja in the Lower Silesia provides an interesting illustration of Polish and Silesian monuments’ intricate fortunes after the end of World War II. In December 1945, one part of the group (8 panels) landed in Kraków. At first, it became the property of the Wawel State Art Collection. Then, it was transferred to the Jagiellonian University Museum, by which it is still owned. In 1966, the other part of the group (6 panels) was made over to the Silesian Museum, later called the National Museum in Wrocław. The stained glass windows from Grodziec constitute also an example of interesting issues from the fields of art conservation studies, museology and restoration.
The panels of stained glass from the beginning of the 15th century, representing Madonna and Child, Man of Sorrows, Virgin Mary and the Angel Gabriel, Apostles and Saints in architectural frames, became part of the decor of the castle in Grodziec, of a baroque palace situated at the feet of the castle hill and of one pavilion in the palace park. Gradually reconstructed from the beginning of the 19th century and then, in the years 1906–1908, rebuilt in the romantic style by B. Ebhard, the castle started being decorated with stained glass windows in the 1830s. Six sections from the group have already been exhibited in the rooms of the Kraków Jagiellonian University Museum for many years. In the course of historical research, it has turned out that presumably also other stained glass windows, currently belonging to the University Museum, come from Grodziec: twelve smaller sections representing the Passion and the scene of Saint Clare’s death, from ca. 1490, made in the Nuremberg workshop of Michael Wolgemut, and two Late Renaissance stained glass windows representing the figures of Saint Peter and Saint James, from a Rhineland workshop. The fourteen medieval stained glass windows of Austrian origins, coming from Grodziec and now belonging to the Kraków and Wrocław museums’ collections, currently undergo physical and chemical analysis. Historical research is also being conducted thanks to the financial support of the National Science Centre. Three sections from the Wrocław collection were already preserved and restored in 2013 thanks to a grant from the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage, another three underwent conservation in the conservation studio of The Academy of Fine Arts in Kraków in the years 2013 and 2014.
 

The group of 14 stained glass windows from Grodziec (Gröditzberg, Gröditzburg) near Złotoryja in the Lower Silesia provides an interesting illustration of Polish and Silesian monuments’ intricate fortunes after the end of World War II. In December 1945, one part of the group (8 panels) landed in Kraków. At first, it became the property of the Wawel State Art Collection. Then, it was transferred to the Jagiellonian University Museum, by which it is still owned. In 1966, the other part of the group (6 panels) was made over to the Silesian Museum, later called the National Museum in Wrocław. The stained glass windows from Grodziec constitute also an example of interesting issues from the fields of art conservation studies, museology and restoration.
The panels of stained glass from the beginning of the 15th century, representing Madonna and Child, Man of Sorrows, Virgin Mary and the Angel Gabriel, Apostles and Saints in architectural frames, became part of the decor of the castle in Grodziec, of a baroque palace situated at the feet of the castle hill and of one pavilion in the palace park. Gradually reconstructed from the beginning of the 19th century and then, in the years 1906–1908, rebuilt in the romantic style by B. Ebhard, the castle started being decorated with stained glass windows in the 1830s. Six sections from the group have already been exhibited in the rooms of the Kraków Jagiellonian University Museum for many years. In the course of historical research, it has turned out that presumably also other stained glass windows, currently belonging to the University Museum, come from Grodziec: twelve smaller sections representing the Passion and the scene of Saint Clare’s death, from ca. 1490, made in the Nuremberg workshop of Michael Wolgemut, and two Late Renaissance stained glass windows representing the figures of Saint Peter and Saint James, from a Rhineland workshop. The fourteen medieval stained glass windows of Austrian origins, coming from Grodziec and now belonging to the Kraków and Wrocław museums’ collections, currently undergo physical and chemical analysis. Historical research is also being conducted thanks to the financial support of the National Science Centre. Three sections from the Wrocław collection were already preserved and restored in 2013 thanks to a grant from the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage, another three underwent conservation in the conservation studio of The Academy of Fine Arts in Kraków in the years 2013 and 2014.
 

Stained Glass Windows from Grodziec. Part II

Until 1945, the panels of stained glass windows representing Madonna and Child, Man of Sorrows (Vir Dolorum), Virgin Mary and the Angel Gabriel (Annunciation), the Apostles – Saint James the Greater and Saint Andrew, as well as the following Saints – Erasmus, Wolfgang, Nicholas, Leonard, Margaret and Barbara, stored within the collections of
The National Museum in Wrocław and of the Jagiellonian University Museum in Kraków, constituted two groups of stained glass windows set in metal frames of ca. 235 x 177 cm.
The group of 14 panels is stylistically quite consistent; it undoubtedly comes from one architectural unit, perhaps from the church in Oberwölz. The existence of small differences between the ways in which the faces were painted or the figures got built allows to distinguish two groups created around 1425 and around 1430. Comparing the style and the technique of the stained glass windows discussed indicates that they were produced in Austria in a workshop operating at the border of Upper Styria and Carinthia. The nearest analogies can be noticed in stained glass windows from the „Maria im Waasen” Church in Leoben, the Maria Höfl Church in Metnitztal, a church in Tamsweg and a church in Gaisberg. The stained glass windows from Grodziec were restored and slightly reshaped (by the addition of inscriptions and frames of rhombus-shaped glazing) in the 19th century and at the beginning of the 20th century. The conservation and restoration performed in the years 2000–2001, 2011 (Kraków panels of the stained glass windows from Grodziec) and 2013–2014 (Wrocław panels) consisted in cleansing the works of numerous layers and of instances of „cold” re-painting, as well as filling in extensive cavities in parts of the figures’ trunks. As far as the Wrocław stained glass windows are concerned, the 19th-century frames of rhombus-shaped glazing were preserved.
 

Three stained glass sets in the Collegium Maius collection on permanent
exhibition

The article deals with three sets of stained glass in the collection of the Jagiellonian University Museum. They are presented in the context of the permanent exhibition of mediaeval sculpture created in the Collegium Maius. The set of Silesian stained glass is subject to study under an NCN grant is the main subject. The theme concerning this set of stained glass is developed in the accompanying article of Elżbieta Gajewska-Prorok.
 

Old and modern methods of stained glass conservation and renovation, using as an example the stained glass depicting St Peter in the collection of the Collegium Maius of the Jagiellonian University in Kraków

Stained glass is exposed to a number of harmful chemical and physical agents. Considering its combined protective and artistic functions, materials used for stained glass production must have very good physical and chemical properties. Despite that, individual elements of stained glass often suffer irreversible damage. The present paper is aimed to present the development of conservation concepts with respect to this art discipline. The causes and types of damage to elements of stained glass are discussed. Various methods of conservation and renovation of stained glass since the 19th century to the present are covered. The analysis of selected treatment and stages of conservation works in view of their safety, effectiveness and influence on the artwork’s aesthetic qualities has been carried out. In addition, the results of tests of adhesives used for repairing damaged glass have been presented. Theoretical discussion is supported by practical examples of the use of some methods of conservation applied to the 17th-century stained glass with the image of St Peter, in the collection of the Collegium Maius of the Jagiellonian University in Kraków.
 

Modern research methods used in conservation of historical black powder weapon Presentation of available research methods along with their application to selected museum exhibits

The article outlines preliminary methods of research used in conservation of black-powder weapon. The research which have been carried out are presented along with the discussion of their characteristics and the results obtained. The scope of research was very wide and concerned the technological structures of wooden and metal elements and the state of their preservation. Despite the very wide scope of issues discussed, the suggested methods of research is not exhaustive. Continuation of research work is envisaged. However, the results obtained can be successfully applied not only to black-powder weapon, but also to metal artistic craftwork in general.
 

Leon Wyczółkowski’s pastels from the collections of professors’ portraits
in the Jagiellonian University Museum – technology and conservation issues

The article deals with technology and conservation issues concerning Leon Wyczółkowski’s six portraits from the Jagiellonian University Museum at Collegium Maius. The characteristics of damage related to the type of ground is discussed. Non-typical canvas grounds sprinkled with woolen and cotton fibre, the so called velour canvas, are described, along with conservation methods.
 

Banderia Prutenorum – conservation enquiry. An attempt at using computer image analysis to recreate the missing miniature in the manuscript

Banderia Prutenorum is a 15th-century parchment code containing images of 56 Teutonic Knights’ and Prussian standards, some of them the trophies in the battle of Grunwald (Tannenberg) in July 1410, which later hung in Wawel Cathedral. The manuscript was created on the initiative of the great historian Jan Długosz, the founder and the author of the text part of the work. He commissioned the Kraków-based painter Stanisław Durink to paint the pictures. Between 1548 and 1731, the leaf on which Madonna with Child, adorning the banner of the Livonian Master was depicted, was cut out of the last of the five quires. The banner captured in the battle of Nakło was two-sided: on one side it was adorned with the image of Madonna and on the other side the image of St Maurice. Durink painted the images on separate sheets of parchment. In the course of the studies of the manuscript, some poorly visible smudges were noticed which may have been reflections of a small fragment of Madonna’s mantle. Computer analysis of the image of this reflection revealed the image of Madonna and thus allowed for an attempt of the virtual reconstruction of the miniature which then could be compared with images of this picture known only from reproductions. As a result of the computer analysis an image showing a surprising number of details compared to the image seen through the naked eye was revealed.
 

Interactive scientific exhibitions in Poland

The Exploratorium opened in San Francisco in 1968 is generally considered to be a prototype of all science centres or interactive exhibitions. However, its creator, the American physicist Frank Oppenheimer (1912–1985) was inspired by European science and technology museums, such as Science Museum in London or Deutches Museum in Munich. In the 19th century such museums were also present in Poland, but the first establishment, in which interactive models were purposefully used, most often by pressing the button, was the Museum of
Industry and Technology which opened in Warsaw in 1933.
Over the last dozen years or so, various initiatives for the promotion of science, and in particular the natural sciences, have been launched throughout Poland. The concept initiated in the US some 45 years ago is popular in many countries around the world, but it really established itself in Poland in the early 21st century. Two Kraków-based museums – the Jagiel-
lonian University Museum and the Museum of Municipal Engineering – played a pioneer role in this respect. Initiatives to create interactive exhibitions were also launched in other cities across Poland – Szczecin, Gdańsk, Gdynia, Toruń and Wałbrzych. The highlight of those projects was the opening of the Copernicus Science Centre in Warsaw in November 2010.