Polish Academy of Learning

The Academy traces its origins to Academy of Learning founded in 1871, itself a result of the transformation of the Kraków Learned Society, in existence since 1815. Though formally limited to the Austrian Partition, the Academy served from the beginning as a learned and cultural society for the entire Polish nation. Its activities extended beyond the boundaries of the Austrian Partition, gathering scholars from all of Poland, and many other countries as well. Some indication of how the Academy's influence extended beyond the boundaries of the Partitions came in 1893, when the collection of the Polish Library in Paris, the largest collection of Polish materials amassed by the Great Emigration, was transferred to the ownership of the Academy, and a branch was founded in Paris, though this latter step had been preceded by the establishment of the Rome Expedition (annual trips to Roman archives).

After World War I, the Academy was renamed "Polish Academy of Arts and Sciences" (PAU), and became the official representative of Polish learning, which entailed its participation in works of international learned organizations. Among other things, the PAU was a founder member of the Union Académique Internationale (UAI). The period between the world wars was the time of greatest activity at the PAU, especially in the sphere of publications: over 100 publication series were then in print, among them the monumental Polish Biographical Dictionary (Polski Słownik Biograficzny). It was also in this period that the Scientific Station in Rome replaced the Rome Expedition.

The PAU was initially organized into four sections:

Philological

Historical-Philosophical

Mathematical-Natural Sciences

Medical (from 1930)

In 1942 a successor body of the Polish Academy of Learning, the Polish Institute of Arts and Sciences, was established in New York City by Bronisław Malinowski, Oskar Halecki and other scholars associated with the Academy, which had been forcibly closed down by the occupying Germans. Following the collapse of communism in Poland, the Polish Academy of Learning was revived and became affiliated with the Polish Institute of Arts and Sciences of America (as the latter had meanwhile been renamed).

Supporting Young Scholars and Junior Research Workers

Since January 2009, the "PAUeczka Akademicka" [Academy of the Young], has been working in the PAU. Directed by vice-president of the PAU Andrzej Szczeklik, it organizes monthly meeting of PhD students, assistant lectures and students representing various scientific disciplines from the academic environment in Kraków. The meetings are devoted to discussions aiming at humanization and integration of academic circles. The PAU co-finances the Winter School of Theoretical Physics of Wrocław University (for students in senior years, PhD students, and junior research workers), international workshops, and the Kraków School of Theoretical Physics (for junior research workers from Poland and abroad).

International Cooperation

Since its foundation, the Polish Academy of Arts and Sciences has been actively involved in cooperation with foreign institutions and activities on the international forum. Already in the 19th century the Academy initiated archival expeditions to study sources from the history of Poland (among other the so-called Roman Expedition to Vatican Archives connected with its opening in 1881), and sent its representatives to international congresses. In 1898, the Academy of Arts and Sciences became the owner of the Polish Library in Paris and opened a scientific station there. The Academy's library in Kraków carried on a broad exchange of publications from the very beginning. In 1921, the PAU became a founding member of the Union Académique Internationale (UAI). After its activities were resumed, the PAU's membership in the UAI was renewed in 1993, and the PAU began to take part in the research and publication projects of this organization. The publication of the Polish series of the "Corpus vasorum antiquorum" (CVA) was completed with volume 10, devoted to Cypriot pottery from the collection of the National Museum in Warsaw. The Kraków sheet in the "Tabula Imperii Romani" (TIR) was worked out and published, and the material for sheet 12 of the "Atlas du Monde Grec et Romain" was prepared. Three volumes of the Polish series in the "Corpus antiquitatum Americanensium" (CAA) have been published; the first two volumes are devoted to the ceramics and Peruvian textiles in the collection of Kraków Archaeological Museum (the Kluger Collection, formerly the property of the PAU), and the third one deals with the materials of the Polish archaeological mission in Peru. The edition of the Polish series "Sylloge Nummorum Graecorum" (SNG) has been commenced; its first four volumes are devoted to the collection of Greek coins from the Archaeological Museum in Łódź. PAU members are also participating in the realization of such UAI projects as "Corpus philosophorum medii aevi, Civitas litteraria Europaea, Moravia Magna". The PAU has declared its intention of joining new UAI projects, such as the realization of the series "Monumenta palaeographica medii aevi" (volume 1 already worked out), "Mundus Scytho-Sarmaticus et Graeco-Romanus" (together with Ukraine).

Thanks to the effective cooperation of the PAU and the UAI, the annual plenary meeting of the UAI (involving representative of 44 academies around the world assembled in the UAI) took place in Kraków in 1999, during which the PAU's representative, Janusz Kozłowski, was elected officer of the UAI; since 2007 he has been the vice-president of the organization. A cooperation agreement has been signed with the Slovak Academy of Sciences. This bore fruit especially in the field of archaeology, for instance in the realization of joint investigation of archaeological sites in eastern and south-western Slovakia as well as in the research into the archaeology and natural environment of the Low Beskids mountains (volume II). Cooperation was also initiated and contracts were signed with the Royal Flemish Academy for Science and the Arts in Belgium, with the Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic, with the Slovenian Academy of Sciences, with the Hungarian Academy of Sciences, with the Romanian Academy of Sciences, and with the Ukrainian National Academy of Sciences. Somewhat looser forms of cooperation exist between the PAU and the Saxon Academy and Sciences, as well as the Austrian Academy of Sciences and with the Brandenburg Academy of Sciences in Berlin. Class II of the PAU has signed a cooperation agreement with the Institute of History in Vilnius. The PAU has also been engaged in scientific cooperation based on treaties negotiated by the Polish Ministry of Foreign Affairs with several countries, including France, Italy, the Czech Republic, Macedonia, and Egypt. Together with the universities in Rome (La Sapienza and LUMSA), in Lecce, in Angers, in Szeged, in Lublin (KUL), and in Tallinn, the PAU constitutes in accordance with the European Union requirements a scientific society named Centro Interuniversitario Internazionale per il Mediterraneo, l'Europa Centro-Orientale e l'Eurasia.

In 1994 the PAU Scientific Station in New York was founded, based on the Polish Institute of Arts and Sciences in America, which continued the PAU's traditions during the WWII and of the period of the compulsory suspension of the PAU activities, from 1952 until 1989. Its short-term activities could not be continued due to the lack of financial support. Currently, efforts have been made in order to revive this institution. Contacts have been established with the Polish Institute of Arts and Sciences in Canada, founded in 1943 as a branch of the Polish Institute in New York, and since 1976 operating as an independent Canadian organization. It also acquired a status of the PAU Scientific Station. Three books have been jointly published, and the PAU supports the station with their lecturers. The PAU joined the project of the Polish Historical Institute in Rome, financed by the Lanckoronski Foundation. Recently, after the death of Karolina Lanckoronska, the institute was dissolved and its property, namely numerous publications and scientific projects, such as the publications of the acts of the Apostolic Nunciate in Poland, were taken over by the PAU. Harking back to an older tradition, the PAU is also co-organizing archaeological investigations in Ukraine, continuing the excavation of a large Scythian barrow in Ryzhanovka, among other projects. These investigations have brought one of the most outstanding archaeological discoveries of recent years: the discovery of richly accoutred burial of a Scythian ruler.