Collegium Maius
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The Collegium Maius, or Grand College, in Kraków, Poland, is the Jagiellonian University's oldest building, dating back to the 15th century. It stands at the corner of ulica Jagiellońska (Jagiellon Street) and ulica Świętej Anny (St. Anne Street).
[edit] History
The then 36-year-old university, known at the time as Akademia krakowska (English: the Krakow Academy), moved into the building in 1400 after King Władysław II Jagiełło had purchased it with funds bequeathed by his late wife, Queen Jadwiga.
The Collegium Maius was rebuilt in the late 15th century as a late-Gothic structure surrounding a large courtyard bordered with arcades. In 1517 a well was built in the center of the courtyard. Professors lived and worked upstairs, while lectures were held downstairs.
In the 1490s the Collegium Maius counted among its students Nicolaus Copernicus, the Renaissance astronomer and polymath who would revolutionize European ideas about the universe.
[edit] Cultural significance
The Collegium Maius Museum features ancient lecture rooms, communal halls, professors’ quarters, a library and a treasury containing rectors' Gothic maces and the Jagiellonian globe. Exhibits also include medieval scientific instruments, globes, paintings, collectibles, furniture, coins and medals.
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