Krakowskie pamiątki po Jędrzeju Śniadeckim

Abstract

Jędrzej Śniadecki memorabilia from Kraków This article presents the results of a search for memorabilia related to Jędrzej Śniadecki (1768–1838), a prominent Polish chemist, doctor and columnist. He was born in Żnin in Greater Poland, educated in Kraków and his professional life was associated with Vilnius. This search for memorabilia related to Jędrzej Śniadecki (except for archival materials) was conducted in Vilnius and Kalczuny in Belarus, which has a school museum devoted to Jędrzej Śniadecki and other scholars. However, no personal belongings related to the scholar were found at these locations. At present, the only items known to have belonged to Jędrzej Śniadecki are included in the collection of the Jagiellonian University in Kraków. These items are: an 18th-century microscope, a line gauge dating to 1834 and a ceremonial spade which formed an element of the academic regalia worn by professors of the Imperial University of Vilnius. The article discusses the above mentioned items and their provenance. In 1964, the microscope was transferred to the Jagiellonian University Museum in Kraków from the Botany Unit of the Jagiellonian University by Professor Władysław Szafer (1886–1970) with the information that it had belonged to Jędrzej Śniadecki. It is a Cuff-type microscope made of wood, cardboard, bone and glass, manufactured in Nuremberg. The microscope attributed to Śniadecki bears the initials JFF. It is not a high quality product, but microscopes from Nuremberg gained popularity as toys rather than test instruments. The second item attributed to Jędrzej Śniadecki is a 24-inch folding line gauge which consists of two parts. It was bought in 1957 by the Jagiellonian University Museum from Professor Andrzej Ciechanowiecki, who had inherited it in 1945 from Maria Kazimierzowa Osiecimska-Czapska (née Śniadecka), a great-granddaughter of Jędrzej Śniadecki. In the family, this item was regarded as a memento of Jędrzej Śniadecki which came from Boltup. Another memento of the scholar is a ceremonial spade. Tradition has it that it belonged to Jędrzej Śniadecki and was an element of the ceremonial regalia worn by the professors of the Imperial University of Vilnius. In 1878, the spade was donated to the Archaeological Cabinet of the Jagiellonian University by Kazimierz Jan Wilczyński (1806–1885), a doctor, art collector, publisher and member of the Vilnius Temporary Archaeological Commission.