Lubrański Academy
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Lubrański Academy The Archdiocesan Museum collectionFounded on Ostrów Tumski in 1518 by Bishop Jan Lubrański, the Academy was the first of this new type of institution on Polish soil, shaping the soul of Renaissance humanism. The peak of its magnificence came when the German humanist Krzysztof Hegendorfer lectured here between 1519-35. This time saw the Academy ranked alongside European seats of learning, with an unusually innovative curriculum and outstanding lecturers.
The Academy experienced another period of greatness between 1562 and 1571, under the leadership of Benedykt Herbest. The sons of Wielkopolska's most powerful pro-Reformation families studied here alongside students from lower social strata. Graduates included the poet Klemens Janicki, the writers Krzysztof and Łukasz Opaliński, the doctor Józef Struś and the mathematician, astronomer and philosopher Jan Śniadecki. The 17th century saw the Academy, then a faculty of Kraków University, slide from prominence, as it could no longer compete with Poznań's Jesuit College. It ceased to exist in 1780, when it was merged with the Wielkopolska Academy (previously the Jesuit College). The former main building of the Academy became a capitular library and seminary, and in 1926 the Archdiocesan Archive was housed here. In 1936 exhibits from the Archdiocesan Museum collection were opened to the public on the ground floor.
Construction work on the Academy began in 1518 and lasted several decades after the death of Bishop Jan Lubrański in 1520. The last bills for the construction work date from 1530, when building work came to a halt. The ground floor housed lecture halls, while the first floor housed lodgings for professors and students, a library and, quite possibly, a chapel. The auditoria in the east wing were named Rhetoric and Grammar. The building underwent renovation several times and in the 18th century the interiors were remodelled. In 1689 a printing house was set up on the ground floor. The Academy did not avoid the fortunes of war: in 1711 Muscovite soldiers billeted here destroyed the interior. Between 1924 and 1925 the building was converted in accordance with Kazimierz Ruciński's design.
The facade was restructured in the classical style. The final and most thorough renovation was combined with archaeological research and finished in 2007. Beneath the west wing archaeologists unearthed remnants of an older building. This was no doubt a 14th-15th century half-timbered house which was home to church dignitaries. Sections of the 15th-16th century defensive walls were also unearthed.
Since 2007, the Lubrański Academy building has housed the Archdiocesan Museum, which features valuable collections of sacred art from the whole of Wielkopolska.