Henryk Jordan (23 July 1842 in

Przemyśl Przemyśl (; yi, פשעמישל, Pshemishl; uk, Перемишль, Peremyshl; german: Premissel) is a city in southeastern Poland with 58,721 inhabitants, as of December 2021. In 1999, it became part of the Subcarpathian Voivodeship; it was p ...

– 16 May 1907 in

Kraków Kraków (), or Cracow, is the second-largest and one of the oldest cities in Poland. Situated on the Vistula, Vistula River in Lesser Poland Voivodeship, the city dates back to the seventh century. Kraków was the official capital of Poland un ...

) was a Polish philanthropist,

physician A physician (American English), medical practitioner (Commonwealth English), medical doctor, or simply doctor, is a health professional who practices medicine, which is concerned with promoting, maintaining or restoring health through th ...

and pioneer of

physical education Physical education, often abbreviated to Phys Ed. or P.E., is a subject taught in schools around the world. It is usually taught during primary and secondary education, and encourages psychomotor learning by using a play and movement explorat ...

. A professor of

obstetrics Obstetrics is the field of study concentrated on pregnancy, childbirth and the postpartum period. As a medical specialty, obstetrics is combined with gynecology under the discipline known as obstetrics and gynecology (OB/GYN), which is a sur ...

from 1895 at

Jagiellonian University The Jagiellonian University ( Polish: ''Uniwersytet Jagielloński'', UJ) is a public research university in Kraków, Poland. Founded in 1364 by King Casimir III the Great, it is the oldest university in Poland and the 13th oldest university in ...

, Jordan became best known for organizing children’s playgrounds, called " Jordan's parks" after him.

Life

Henryk Jordan was born into an impoverished noble ''

szlachta The ''szlachta'' (Polish: endonym, Lithuanian: šlėkta) were the noble estate of the realm in the Kingdom of Poland, the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, and the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth who, as a class, had the dominating position in ...

'' family from the village of

Zakliczyn Zakliczyn is a town in Tarnów County, Lesser Poland Voivodeship, Poland, with a population of 1,558 (2006). Zakliczyn lies on the right bank of the Dunajec river, surrounded by wooded hills above sea level. Zakliczyn has a town hall, located ...

, which over time moved to other places in Polish Galicia (for example

). His father, Bonifacy Jordan, gave private lessons. His mother, Salomea Wędrychowska, was a homemaker. Jordan received his high-school education in

Tarnopol Ternópil ( uk, Тернопіль, Ternopil' ; pl, Tarnopol; yi, טאַרנאָפּל, Tarnopl, or ; he, טארנופול (טַרְנוֹפּוֹל), Tarnopol; german: Tarnopol) is a city in the west of Ukraine. Administratively, Terno ...

and

Tarnów Tarnów () is a city in southeastern Poland with 105,922 inhabitants and a metropolitan area population of 269,000 inhabitants. The city is situated in the Lesser Poland Voivodeship since 1999. From 1975 to 1998, it was the capital of the Tarn� ...

. In 1861, however, he took part in pro-Polish demonstrations for which he was threatened with expulsion from school. In 1862 he moved to

Trieste Trieste ( , ; sl, Trst ; german: Triest ) is a city and seaport in northeastern Italy. It is the capital city, and largest city, of the autonomous region of Friuli Venezia Giulia, one of two autonomous regions which are not subdivided into pr ...

and a year later passed his high-school examinations, in Italian, with honors. Jordan began his university studies in

Vienna en, Viennese , iso_code = AT-9 , registration_plate = W , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = , timezone = CET , utc_offset = +1 , timezone_DST ...

, and from 1863 continued them at Kraków's

. He passed his science examinations in 1867 but did not receive his master's degree due to pneumonia. He went to

Berlin Berlin ( , ) is the capital and largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's most populous city, according to population within city limits. One of Germany's sixteen constitu ...

and from there to

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

. While there, Jordan for the first time encountered the "Swedish school of gymnastics" for girls and young women, which became an area of interest for him. While in the United States, Jordan began his medical practice and also opened a school for

midwives A midwife is a health professional who cares for mothers and newborns around childbirth, a specialization known as midwifery. The education and training for a midwife concentrates extensively on the care of women throughout their lifespan; c ...

. After returning to

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a Continent#Subcontinents, subcontinent of Eurasia ...

, he continued to work first in England, then in Germany. Back in Kraków, Jordan took on a number of leadership positions. From 1895 to 1901 he was a

Member of Parliament A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house members o ...

representing the city at the Polish

Diet of Galicia and Lodomeria *german: Landtag von Galizien , native_name_lang = , transcription_name = , legislature = , coa_pic = Wappen Königreich Galizien & Lodomerien.png , coa_caption = Coat of arms of the Kingdom of Galicia and Lodome ...

. In addition, Jordan presided over the Kraków Gynecological Society, as well as the Society of Medical Doctors, and the Association of Polish Teachers of Higher Education (a precursor to the

Polish Teachers' Union Polish Teachers' Union ( pl, Związek Nauczycielstwa Polskiego, ZNP, also translated as ''Union of Polish Teachers'', ''Polish Teachers' Association'', ''Association of Polish Teachers'') is the largest Polish trade union for teachers and educator ...

). Thanks to his efforts, physical education classes were introduced as compulsory into all Polish schools. Henryk Jordan's biggest achievement was to set up a public playground in 1889, with exercise fixtures modeled after playgrounds in the USA, the first in Kraków and perhaps the first in Europe. The

Jordan’s Garden Jordan Park (''Park Jordana'', literally Jordan's Park) was established in 1889 as the first public playground in Kraków, Poland, and the first of its kind in Europe. It was equipped with exercise fixtures modeled after those of similar playgroun ...

built on the grounds of Kraków’s Błonia included a swimming pool, 12 playing and soccer fields, as well as numerous running and exercise tracks. Facilities were added for indoor activities in 1906, in case of bad weather. The park was equipped with locker rooms and showers. On top of that, a free meal service was established for the children.

Legacy

Jordan believed that: “Being serious and working all the time is humanly impossible. A tired body requires rest, as does an overburdened spirit striving for joy.” "Jordan’s gardens" took off like wildfire. They were opened in

Warsaw Warsaw ( pl, Warszawa, ), officially the Capital City of Warsaw,, abbreviation: ''m.st. Warszawa'' is the capital and largest city of Poland. The metropolis stands on the River Vistula in east-central Poland, and its population is officiall ...

Płock Płock (pronounced ) is a city in central Poland, on the Vistula river, in the Masovian Voivodeship. According to the data provided by GUS on 31 December 2021, there were 116,962 inhabitants in the city. Its full ceremonial name, according to th ...

Kalisz (The oldest city of Poland) , image_skyline = , image_caption = ''Top:'' Town Hall, Former "Calisia" Piano Factory''Middle:'' Courthouse, "Gołębnik" tenement''Bottom:'' Aerial view of the Kalisz Old Town , image_flag = POL Kalisz flag.svg ...

and

Lublin Lublin is the ninth-largest city in Poland and the second-largest city of historical Lesser Poland. It is the capital and the center of Lublin Voivodeship with a population of 336,339 (December 2021). Lublin is the largest Polish city east of ...

. In 1928 a Society for Jordan’s Gardens was established to oversee the construction of recreational facilities in interwar Poland.

References

Henryk Jordan’s Park at www.grodzka.net.pl

Henryk Jordan's activity as a member of the Galitzian Parliament

Henryk Jordan (1842-1907), a dedicated Krakow physician

*

Life

Legacy

References

See also