Ponad stuletnia historia Muzeum Wydziału Lekarskiego UJ
Over 100 Years of History of the Jagiellonian University’s Faculty of Medicine Museum

Summary/Abstract: The Jagiellonian University’s Faculty of Medicine Museum was founded in 1900, and its origin is closely connected with Prof. Walery Jaworski. In the favourable atmosphere around the jubilee celebrations to commemorate the foundation of the Jagiellonian Krakow Academy [now the Jagiellonian University], by decision of the University Senate and with the support of the authorities of the Faculty of Medicine, the first Polish museum was founded primarily to secure and describe the objects and archival collections that evidenced the history of Krakow medicine, which was subsequently extended by collecting reminders of the tradition of Polish medicine. Both the specificity of the collections, and the way they were acquired made the undertaking complicated from the very beginning. The museum did not own any storage or exhibition spaces, neither did it have any methodology in place to manage the collections. Therefore to a large extent and for many decades the museum limited its activities to cataloguing and storing its exhibits. Additionally, it needs to be emphasised that the undertaking had from the very beginning been implemented by individuals without any formal education in respect of museum management. Despite the efforts made by Prof. Jaworski’s successors, in particular Władysław Szumowski and Mieczysław Skulimowski, due to financial as well as administrative and political reasons the projects could not be implemented for a long time even though some of them were very advanced. It was only as late as at the turn of 1980s and 1990s that the Jagiellonian University’s Faculty of Medicine Museum could finally be established.

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