Time capsule buried for Jagiellonian University jubilee

Rector of the Jagiellonian University Professor Wojciech Nowak (3L), with several of his predecessors at Thursday's ceremony. Photo: PAP/Jacek Bednarczyk

“We have handed down to posterity our special message,” declared rector of the university, Professor Wojciech Nowak at a ceremony on Thursday evening.

“We are asking future generations to continue the traditions of the university, and to strive to keep it the best university,” he added.

The capsule was buried in the so-called Professors' Garden at the heart of the old university complex.

Photo: PAP/Jacek Bednarczyk

Future academic authorities are forbidden from opening the capsule for at least fifty years.

Besides a message from today's professors, future generations will find a jubilee medal, the university statutes, issues of the university magazine Alma Mater, salt from the nearly medieval salt mines of Wieliczka, and essays written by students imagining what the the seat of learning will be like in the future, among other items (pictured left).

The Jagiellonian University was founded in 1364, and it is the second oldest university in Central Europe after Prague (1348).

Distinguished alumni include Renaissance astronomer Nicolaus Copernicus, science fiction writer Stanislaw Lem and Nobel Prize-winning poet Wislawa Szymborska. (nh)

Source: Gazeta Krakowska