Lecture on “University Customs: Ermines, Regalia and Student Induction Pranks”
On 7 April 2017, Dr Wiktor Szymborski of the JU Institute of History delivered a lecture on “University Customs: Ermines, Regalia and Student Induction Pranks” at the Jagiellonian University Collegium Maius Museum.
The lecture focused on selected aspects related to university life, primarily the daily life of students struggling not just with difficult subjects, but also their senior fellow students staging peculiar induction pranks. The history of promotion and university ceremonials was discussed as well as broadly understood student entertainment.
The lecture was adapted to the needs of persons with disabilities and took place as part of the “To Touch Culture” event.
Lecture entitled “Do We Need the Brain?”
On 24 February 2017, Prof. Jerzy Silberring of the Chair of Biochemistry and Neurobiology of the Faculty of Materials Science and Ceramics at the AGH University of Science and Technology delivered a lecture entitled “Do We Need the Brain?” at the Collegium Novum auditorium.
The lecture focused on the basics of brain operation and its impact on our behaviour. What percentage of the human brain is indispensable to ensure proper functioning? What makes us like to return to pleasant things and events and why to some such pleasures are not enough and they need to drink or take drugs? Will neuroscience help us memorise more efficiently and what to do in order not to get on the examiner’s bad side? What chance of teaching his/her students something does the teacher stand in the face of the "cram, pass and forget" principle they cherish? When does the brain fool us? These and other questions, of interest not just to university students, were discussed during the meeting.
The lecture was adapted to the needs of persons with disabilities and took place as part of the “To Touch Culture” event.
Workshop "From cattle to polymers, or a different take on the history of money"
On 13 January 2017, an open workshop entitled "From cattle to polymers, or a different take on the history of money" organised by the JU DSS took place at the Emeryk Hutten-Czapski Museum in Cracow. It was led by Mateusz Woźniak from the National Museum in Cracow.
In order to become familiar with a coin or banknote one must hold it in the hands. Watching it on a computer screen or from behind the glass of a museum showcase will not provide the entirety of impressions one can get resulting from being exposed to an object created to go from hand to hand. That is why the workshop format was chosen for the meeting so as to facilitate better familiarisation with the "weight" or even the "smell" of money.
The workshop was adapted to the needs of persons with disabilities and took place as part of the "To Touch Culture" event.
Lecture “The archaeological time machine”
On 29 November 2016, prof. dr hab. Jan Chochorowski from the JU Archaeology Institute delivered a lecture entitled "The archaeological time machine” at the JU Collegium Maius Museum.
Wishing to learn about the distant past, the archaeologist needs to activate a time machine of sorts, taking him/her back to remote times. Such a machine is excavations and their finds: things/objects made of stone, metal, wood or bone lying underground, sometimes underwater, abandoned in the ruins of settlements, placed next to deceased ones in their graves, hidden from thieves under stones or given to deities as sacrificial offerings. What fuel must archaeologists use to start such a machine and travel a distance of millions of years where the mankind was unable to write down its history as it painstakingly climbed up the successive stages of civilisational development gradually learning about the surrounding nature and how to use the natural resources? How to obtain information from archaeological finds – things, real as they are material, yet completely mute witnesses to the past? Such fuel is the archaeologist's scientific toolkit, and this is what the lecture was about: ways to restore memory of prehistoric ancestors.
The lecture was adapted to the needs of persons with disabilities and took place as part of the "To Touch Culture" event.
Open lecture "Ships sailing in the air, or flying in the Middle Ages"
On 21 October 2016, Dr Wiktor Szymborski from the JU Institute of History delivered the first lecture of the new academic year entitled "Ships sailing in the air, or flying in the Middle Ages" in the JU Auditorium Maximum building. The lecture discussed some examples testifying to first attempts of flying in the Middle Ages. It was thought in early modernity that there were several ways to rise in the air: one referred to spirits and angels, another one to birds, still another one to wings attached to the body in a special fashion while the fourth one to flying machines. Examples from the third and fourth categories show how innovative some ideas of medieval man were. The lecture skipped all magic spells supposed to facilitate flying or levitation but discussed examples and fate of medieval Icaruses and attempts to build flying machines or use griffins to propel aircraft carriers.
The lecture was adapted to the needs of persons with disabilities.
Open lecture "Pilgrimage routes and pilgrim rights in medieval Europe"
Lecturer: Dr Wiktor Szymborski, JU Institute of History
The lecture was held on 10 June 2016 in the Libraria of the Collegium Maius during the fifth jubilee edition of the "To Touch Culture” event.
Medieval pilgrims - who were they, where did they go and why? Could anyone go on a pilgrimage? What rights and privileges were granted to them? What conditions had to be met to become a pilgrim? Looking for answers to such seemingly easy questions one should take into account the complexity of medieval culture and reality. The lecture focused on this and other interesting historical themes.
The lecture was adapted to the needs of persons with disabilities.
"Sign language in monastic communities"
Lecturer: Dr Wiktor Szymborski, JU Institute of History
Delivered on 18 March 2016, the lecture discussed issues related to historical gestures used in monastic facilities as well as contemporary sign language. In many areas of monastic life, the rule of silence necessitated interpersonal communication by means of signs. The multitude and diversity of signs or gestures used by monks in monasteries is immediately associated with today's sign language. Do these two worlds, of monastic gestures and contemporary sign language, apparently far apart, have something in common? What was the origin of sign language in the Middle Ages in the first place? How did it evolve? This and other questions were answered during the lecture.
"The Devil in Medieval Culture"
The lecture delivered by Dr Wiktor Szymborski from the JU Institute of History was held at Collegium Paderevianum II, Building B, Room 505 on 15 January 2016. The presentation featured a history of the perception of the Devil in the Middle Ages, invoking infernal powers, contact with Satan, "hellish" iconography and the hierarchy of devils in the Middle Ages. Familiarising the audience with the medieval perception of infernal powers, the lecturer showcased differences between that perception in medieval Europe across the centuries. Hell and infernal torture as seen in the 1330s and 1400s differed considerably from the original early medieval representations. In the course of the "mature" Middle Ages, the magnitude of devils and supernatural forces surrounding man was unusually extensive. The lecture also featured history of medicine in the context of perceiving forces of hell, as well as medieval interpretations of visions of hell.
"Chess in Medieval Culture"
The lecture was held on 7 October 2015 during the JU DSS' Open Day and marked the launch of a series of open lectures organised by the JU Disability Support Service as part of the "To Touch Culture" event.
All the lectures have been adapted to the needs of persons with sight and hearing disabilities and are interpreted into Polish sign language. Blind persons can enjoy tactile adaptations of the illustrations discussed and shown during the lectures.
Lecturer: Dr Wiktor Szymborski, JU Institute of History