Botanic Garden Museum
Jagiellonian University
ul. Kopernika 27
31-501 Kraków
Tel. (12) 663 36 17
hortus@uj.edu.pl
www.ogrod.uj.edu.pl
Free admission with a valid ticket to the Botanic Garden
Wednesdays – Fridays: 10 am – 2 pm
Sundays: 11 am – 3 pm
Open in the summer season from April to October. Open to students throughout the year – advance booking is essential. The museum is located at the Collegium Śniadeckiego of the Jagiellonian University: ground floor, entrance from the terrace, directly from the Botanic Garden.
Academic supervisor: Bogusław Binkiewicz PhD
Staff: Beata Sikora-Majewska MA, Prof. Alicja Zemanek

The Botanic Garden Museum of the Jagiellonian University is associated with research, and didactic activities concerning the oldest Botanical Garden in Poland which was established in 1783. The start of the collections dates back to the end of the 18th century, and a permanent exhibition was opened to the public in 1983 on the ground floor of the
former Astronomical Observatory, to mark the Botanic Garden’s 200th anniversary. In 1963 the observatory was renamed the Collegium Śniadeckiego of the Jagiellonian University. The museum currently occupies seven rooms encompassing approx. 170 sq. metres, of which four are exhibition halls (110 sq. metres). The botanical exhibits include
fruits, seeds, dendrological specimens (cross sections and trunks of trees) and complete plants in preserving liquid collected in the Botanic Garden and during botanical excursions to Europe, Africa, America and Asia (19th–20th centuries). These include specimens collected by Jan Kornaś (1923–1994), Maria Olech (emeritus professor of the Jagiellonian University), Marian Raciborski (1863–1917) and Władysław Szafer (1886–1970). A separate group of exhibits consists of historical and botanical items – archival materials, old teaching aids – models of plants, tables, microscopic preparations as well as iconographic materials: photographs and negatives, prints, oil paintings and watercolours. The museum also has a few handicrafts and folk objects in its collection. The botanical collections comprises approx. 5,400 exhibits, and several thousand historical and botanical items. The majority of the exhibits
document the Botanic Garden’s activities in the 20th century. The exhibition rooms are named as follows: History of the Botanic Garden of the Jagiellonian University which contains a dendrological exhibition, Polar Room which has on display the collection of M. Olech, Annexe with a Stained Glass Window – where naked seed plants or gymnosperms
(wood and pine cones) are on show and Tropical Room including Marian Raciborski’s collection from Java and Jan Kornaś’ collection from Africa. Each year, the museum organizes temporary exhibitions of paintings and photography and other artistic items connected thematically with nature and botany in particular, such as flowers, trees, gardens and landscapes.
Prof. Alicja Zemanek

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