AMU History

^{Painting dated 1886 by Jan Matejko:  Bishop Jan Lubranski founding his Academy in 1519 (original deposited at the Poznan Branch of the National Museum; copy on display at AMU Collegium Minus)}

The history of the university in Poznań begins in the 16th century when in 1519 a Roman-Catholic Bishop Jan Lubrański founded the first Academy in town, which back then boasted the status of a higher learning institution.

Shortly after, another institution of higher learning – the Jesuit College (1573) - was established in Poznań. Its first Rector, Jakub Wujek, was the author of the main Bible translation into Polish.

On October 28th, 1611, King Sigismund III Vasa granted the Jesuit College the status of the first University-type school in Poznań.

The privilege was re-affirmed by King John III Sobieski and the University in Poznan functioned until 1773.

In the following turbulent years of Polish history, science and higher education were always vibrant in Poznań. The key role in their development was played by the Poznań Society of Friends of Sciences which preserved the academic legacy forward in partitioned Poland (1795-1918) until the official re-establishment of the University of Poznan, following the end of the First World War, in 1919.

Ever since, the University of Poznań has flourished, and only one more time was it forced to go underground and provide its services in conspiracy during the Second World War under the name of clandestine University of the Western Lands (1940-1944). Despite the Nazi German occupation it managed to educate and produce over 2,000 graduates with the help of some 300 academic teachers, who risked their lives by offering university courses in Polish, which was made illegal during the war.