Virtual exhibitions
CRACOVIA URBS CELEBERRIMA (new window).
Different shades of the city based on the Cracoviana collection in the Cracow University of Technology Library.
The virtual exhibition Cracovia Urbs Celeberrima (from Latin Cracow the most famous city) presents thematic issues developed from selected publications from the Cracoviana collection.
The Cracoviana collection includes 1286 book publications (1494 volumes) and 53 titles of periodicals published in Cracow or concerning Cracow and its immediate vicinity from 1745-1945. The collection is made up of publications related to the functioning of the city, its history, economic and social policy, as well as those dealing with issues of everyday life and customs of its residents. The largest group of books is comprised of studies on the art and architecture of the city of Cracow, monuments and issues in the field of conservation and restoration of material objects. You can also find numerous publications on sightseeing, including guides to Cracow and its surroundings, guidebooks and monographic studies of Galician cities, villages and regions. The collection includes numerous studies about competitions for public buildings and urban planning projects. Cracoviana also contains memorial books of societies and reports on the activities of various institutions and scientific commissions. The two bookbinding albums containing 131 original prints from plates by Ignacy Krieger and his children Natan and Amalia are unique on a national scale. A separate group consists of specialized scientific studies in the field of mathematical and natural sciences.
About 40% of the books in the Cracoviana collection have ownership marks, which significantly increase the collector's value of a given copy, and can also provide research material for historians or library scholars.
The Cracoviana Collection is an invaluable source of historical knowledge about the artistic and cultural heritage of the city of Cracow and its environs from the 19th and first half of the 20th centuries. The collection enriches the state of knowledge about the institutions, architecture and history of our city. The virtual exhibition of the Library of Cracow University of Technology presents a fragment of the collection based on selected thematic issues.
UNUSUAL BOOK COVERS (new window)
The idea of this exhibition was inspired by the 20th National Library Week’s slogan "My, Your, Our - Library!" (TB2023). The intention of creators of the event was to present what belongs to the entire community of the Cracow University of Technology and to invite to getting know the collections of the CUT Library through its bookbinding works. Paraphrasing the slogan of TB2023: let’s get to know my treasures, yours and ours! Books of particular value have been selected from the CUT Library collection due to their connection with the university through the author or publisher name, as well as 19th century works of bookbinding art and contemporary ones. All the books were selected because of their covers, which intrigued the selectors enough to: extract them from the library's storeroom, learn more about them and share them with public. The exhibition was enriched with handmade covers by CUT Library employees and their friends.
The opening of the Unusual Book Covers exhibition on 8 May, 2023 was graced by prof. CUT, dr hab. art engineer arch. Marcin Barański, active in the art of painting and illustration, creator of wall compositions in the main building of the CUT Library.
The exhibition venue: Main Reading Room, duration: 8-31 May, 2023.
A trace of the temporary exhibition will be the virtual Unusual Book Covers version (in Polish) (new window) which presents a subjective selection of covers from those displayed in the Main Reading Room of the CUT Library.
Selected publications from two collections of the CUT Library were presented at the exhibition. There were the Lviv collection and the Polish and foreign prints issued until 1918. The most valuable prints - historical works in the field of technical sciences were presented in thematic groups. Their artistic and typographical values had also been exposed. The exhibition was enriched with unique copies of publications with interesting provenances, authors' dedications, ex-libris, stamps, handwritten signatures and notes. The exhibition venue: Main Reading Room, duration: 25 March - 31 July 2019.
The book collection presented at the event is an important, though not always appreciated, source of knowledge about the historical and cultural heritage of the European society at the end of the 19th and the first half of the 20th century. The exhibition is an incentive to explore these collections in the digital version.
HOW HAS KRAKÓW CHANGED. THE ROYAL CITY IN THE LENS AND ON THE BOOK CARDS FROM THE END OF THE XIX CENTURY. (new window)
Exhibition inspired by the CUT Library collection of CRACOVIANA
The inspiration for the exhibition were two photo albums from the collection of the CUT Library, containing in total 131 original prints made around 1928-1929, whose authors are Ignacy Krieger and his children Natan and Amalia.
This exhibition presents a unique selection of photographs where they were immortalized the most characteristic and well-known monuments and places of old Kraków. In addition to these photographs, contemporary shots of those objects have been placed. The photos were taken by the organizers of this event. The exhibition was completed with valuable books from the Cracoviana collection in terms of historical content.
THE LVIV COLLECTION AT THE CUT LIBRARY (new window)
The Lviv collection is a rich collection of technical books, also the textbooks, most of which is authored by the Lviv Polytechnic professors. The enrichment of the collection are unique lithographic prints of lectures, textbooks editions.
The Lviv collection also includes fiction, tourist guides, works on Polish history and art history.
Undoubtedly, the greatest richness of books is their substantive content. Moreover, in the pages of the books presented at the exhibition, visitors can also find many other valuable information about the authors, owners, publishers. A significant part of the collection has different signs of ownership.
OLD PRINTS AT THE CUT LIBRARY (new window)
The exhibition presents the oldest documents stored in the CUT Library. It includes mainly collections in the field of architecture of German and Polish origin. Decorative book covers, unique fonts and release dates from distant centuries, are just a few attributes of these collections, which the CUT Library wants to show to a wider audience.
The exhibition was opened on 7 May, 2013.