The ''Collegium Novum'' (

Latin Latin ( or ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally spoken by the Latins (Italic tribe), Latins in Latium (now known as Lazio), the lower Tiber area aroun ...

: "New College") is the

Neo-Gothic Gothic Revival (also referred to as Victorian Gothic or neo-Gothic) is an architectural movement that after a gradual build-up beginning in the second half of the 17th century became a widespread movement in the first half of the 19th century ...

main building of the

Jagiellonian University The Jagiellonian University (, UJ) is a public research university in Kraków, Poland. Founded in 1364 by Casimir III the Great, King Casimir III the Great, it is the oldest university in Poland and one of the List of oldest universities in con ...

Kraków , officially the Royal Capital City of Kraków, is the List of cities and towns in Poland, second-largest and one of the oldest cities in Poland. Situated on the Vistula River in Lesser Poland Voivodeship, the city has a population of 804,237 ...

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It extends from the Baltic Sea in the north to the Sudetes and Carpathian Mountains in the south, bordered by Lithuania and Russia to the northeast, Belarus and Ukrai ...

, originally built between the year 1363 and 1365 and after its destruction, rebuilt in between 1873 and 1887. 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-Hungarian Austria-Hungary, also referred to as the Austro-Hungarian Empire, the Dual Monarchy or the Habsburg Monarchy, was a multi-national constitutional monarchy in Central Europe between 1867 and 1918. A military and diplomatic alliance, it consist ...

capital of

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, 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 Dunajewski. 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.” Professor Andrzej Chwalba
"From the Collegium Maius to the Auditorium Maximum"

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, October 1, 2005 Until the end of

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, a portrait of emperor

Franz Joseph I of Austria Franz Joseph I or Francis Joseph I ( ; ; 18 August 1830 – 21 November 1916) was Emperor of Austria, King of Hungary, and the ruler of the Grand title of the emperor of Austria, other states of the Habsburg monarchy from 1848 until his death ...

, 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 Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It extends from the Baltic Sea in the north to the Sudetes and Carpathian Mountains in the south, bordered by Lithuania and Russia to the northeast, Belarus and Ukrai ...

. However, a number of other paintings did survive, including portraits of the university's founding fathers Casimir the Great and

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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 Matejko Jan Alojzy Matejko (; also known as Jan Mateyko; 24 June 1838 – 1 November 1893) was a Polish painter, a leading 19th-century exponent of history painting, known for depicting nodal events from Polish history. His works include large scale ...

, including his painting entitled ''

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: 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 German Nazi Germany, officially known as the German Reich and later the Greater German Reich, was the German state between 1933 and 1945, when Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party controlled the country, transforming it into a totalitarian dictat ...

action called

Sonderaktion Krakau ''Sonderaktion Krakau'' was a German operation against professors and academics of the Jagiellonian University and other universities in German-occupied Kraków, Poland, at the beginning of World War II. It was carried out as part of the much bro ...

where 183 professors were arrested and later sent to camps in Sachsenhausen and Dachau. 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.

References

Virtual Tour of the Collegium NovumAbout the history of Collegium Novum at www.uj.edu.pl
* ttp://www.iiconservation.org/publications/digipubs.php?pub_id=1848 Conservation challenges, Collegium Novum in the late 20th century {{coord, 50, 03, 39, N, 19, 55, 59, E, source:kolossus-plwiki, display=title Gothic Revival architecture in Poland Jagiellonian University buildings

See also

References