2011-01-31 09:17:37

Wrocław, Lviv and Paris

What these three cities have in common? The person of Joannes Casimirus Rex. As a homage to just this king of Poland a memorial tablet has been placed in a well-known Parisian church of Saint-Germain-des-Prés. The plaque unveiled on January 21, 2011 in the presence of Wrocław’s mayor and universities’ rectors was the initiative of Mayor Rafał Dutkiewicz.

What these three cities have in common? The person of Joannes Casimirus Rex. As a homage to just this king of Poland a memorial tablet has been placed in a well-known Parisian church of Saint-Germain-des-Prés. The plaque unveiled on January 21, 2011 in the

presence of WrocÅ‚aw’s mayor and universities’ rectors was the initiative of Mayor RafaÅ‚ Dutkiewicz.

350 years ago – on the 20th of January 1661 - king of Poland Joannes Casimirus signed a charter founding the Jesuit Academy of Lwów (later the Lwów University). In the 1920ties the academy went under the Polish government jurisdiction and since then was bearing name the Jan Kazimierz University. It was one of the biggest and most merited academic institutions in reborn Poland. The professors with the world renown were lecturing here and many scientific schools functioned in the frame of university. After the second world war a group of Polish professors of Lwów moved to WrocÅ‚aw to organize university here. In this way University of WrocÅ‚aw combined the Lwów traditions of Jan Kazimierz University with line of the German University grown of Academia Leopoldina established in 1702. As RafaÅ‚ Dutkiewicz noted, “the science in WrocÅ‚aw in the material meaning was built on the remnants of the German base. In the intellectual understanding most important was the input of the Lwów scientific thought.” The memorial tablet is a symbolic tribute to the significance of Jan Kazimierz in creating the intellectual background of present day WrocÅ‚aw – one of the major academic centers in Poland.
The Lwów traditions of WrocÅ‚aw University are remind also by the rector’s insignia – the set of six scepters of Jan Kazimierz University – presently, for ten years, at the exhibition in WrocÅ‚aw University museum, permanently in the collections of Cracow Jagiellonian University. The choice of church of Saint-Germain-des-Prés is not accidental. After abdication in 1668 Joannes Casimirus accepted the invitation of king Louis XIV and hold the prestigious dignity of abbot at Saint-Germain-des-Prés – to his death in 1672.