Muzeum Narodowe w Krakowie – Uniwersytetowi Jagiellońskiemu w 600. rocznicę założenia uczelni

Abstract

On the occasion of the 660th foundation anniversary of the Academy of Krakow, which fell in 2023, the article takes a closer look at a theme that has not been explored in the academic literature, namely the contribution of the staff of Poland’s oldest national museum in Krakow to the celebrations marking the 600th anniversary of the academy in 1964 with an exhibition entitled Art in Krakow, 1350–1550. It was a monumental exhibition, which is worth recalling so as not to erase the traces of this initiative. The curator of the exhibition for the 600th foundation anniversary of the Jagiellonian University was Maria Kopff. In organising it, she worked with great dedication and devotion, and it was thanks to this exhibition that she gained great professional and moral authority in the museum community, and on many occasions her opinions influenced the most important museum issues in Poland. It was the exhibition that synchronised monuments of sacred art with monuments of a secular nature in a manner unprecedented in the Polish People’s Republic, all in an attempt to show the luxuriant development of Polish art from the 14th to the 16th century. Although the content of the exhibition was close to the so-called ‘historical policy’, exposing, among other things, the secular character of Cracovian art, it undoubtedly presented the enormous achievements of Polish national heritage.