Cracovia Urbs Celeberrima virtual exhibition
Cracovia Urbs Celeberrima(nowe okno)
Different shades of the city based on the Cracoviana in the collection of the CUT Library
We invite you to the virtual exhibition Cracovia Urbs Celeberrima (new window) (from Latin: Cracow the most famous city), realized by the CUT Library. It presents several thematic issues developed on the basis of selected publications from the Cracoviana. The exhibition's title is a direct reference to a Latin phrase that appears on a medieval copperplate engraving by Matthäus Merian from 1619 depicting a panorama of Cracow.
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. This collection is an invaluable source of historical knowledge about the artistic and cultural heritage of the city of Cracow and its region from the 19th and first half of the 20th centuries. It enriches the state of knowledge about the institutions, architecture and history of our city.
The exhibition is thematic and has been divided into six main themes:
- Scientific societies and art enthusiasts,
- Caring for Cracovians (charitable and social associations),
- Hygiene and health of Cracow's residents,
- On treatments, on holidays... (i.e., where did Cracovians treat and rest more than a hundred years ago?),
- The greenery of Cracow,
- Competition plans and projects.
The choice of such a theme was aimed at showing a slightly different face of the "most famous" Polish city. It contains a lot of interesting information and anecdotes, through which you will be able to learn, among other things:
Why Jan Matejko renounced the title of honorary citizen of the city of Cracow?
What did the Cracovian architect answer to the "malicious" question?
Where the term of the Planty came from and where the professors' estate was located in Cracow?
What was discovered while digging a well in Podgórze and whether there are still lanterns of the dead in Cracow?
The construction of whose monument sparked widespread debate and brawl?
All of this is enriched by extensive illustrative material derived in substantial part from publications included in the Cracoviana collection.
The exhibition, as part of the Release of the Cracoviana Collection from the resources of the Cracow University of Technology Library project, was prepared by a team consisting of: Agnieszka Górska and Anna Kraus (concept, substantive elaboration and graphic design) and Szymon Zdebski and Dorota Lipińska (technical preparation and publicising).