150 years of the Jagiellonian University Archaeological Cabinet. Past and present

The collection of the former Jagiellonian University Archaeological Cabinet (Gabinet Archeologiczny Uniwersytetu Jagiellońskiego) in Kraków is unique in Poland. This is the oldest archaeological academic collection in Poland and the only one to survive to the present day in a nearly unchanged form. The collection’s history goes back to 1867, when it was established by Józef Łepkowski, the creator of the first Chair of Archaeology in the Jagiellonian University. The basic bulk of the collection was accumulated after the January Uprising of 1863, in a period marked by increased interest in antiquities: at that time it was regarded as a patriotic duty to preserve the achievements of Polish science and art. The establishment of the cabinet fit well into the general interest in antiquity observed throughout 19th-century Europe. Today, the collection is divided into two parts (each of them kept separately): Mediterranean and Prehistoric. As the artefacts from the Archaeological Cabinet have not been put on display since the end of WWII, the collection has generally maintained its 19th-century character, becoming in itself a museum monument of a kind.