Nowodworski College

The professors of the Jagiellonian University - at that time still known as the Kraków Academy - established the St Anne Grammar School - the so-called classes - in 1588. Today it is believed to be the oldest secondary school in Poland. Jan Laitner built a new main building for the school in ul. Św. Anny in the years 1638-1643.

Its construction was greatly helped by a donation from Bartłomiej Nowodworski, a noble born man whose life could easily have become the subject of an adventure film. He participated in the military expeditions of King Stephen Bathory (Stefan Batory), and was an envoy to the Court of the Sultan in the King's name. Having killed his adversary in a struggle, Nowodworski was forced to flee Poland and served the French kings: Henry III and Henry IV to join later the Order of Malta. As a Knight of the Order of Malta, he took part in wars against the Muslims. He earned special fame during the siege of the Lepanto Fortress in 1603, which the Maltese managed to capture thanks to Nowodworski who blew up the entrance gate to the fortress. Having returned to Poland in glory as a hero, he served King Sigismund III Vasa (Zygmunt III Waza) who had Nowodworski - considered an expert in the art of siege laying and the use of explosives - carry out a reform of the army.

With crow-stepped gables decorated with pillars, the Nowodworski college reflects the late-Gothic architecture of the neighbouring Collegium Maius. Yet the main decoration of the building is its internal courtyard with the early baroque, arcaded galleries and the picturesque "palace" staircase added in the mid-19th century.

This courtyard made history thanks to the staging here of a drama by Marian Niżyński. The play entitled Kawaler księżycowy (Gentleman from the Moon) was presented here by a student theatre as part of the Kraków Festival in June 1939. One of its actors was then a first year student of Polish Philology at the Jagiellonian University, Karol Wojtyła, later Pope John Paul II.

After the school moved to the new headquarters in pl. Na Groblach (1898), the building served to provide access to a part of the collection of the Jagiellonian Library. In 1949, the building was presented to the newly established Medical Academy.

The most famous graduates of the St Anne Grammar School in the Nowodworski College included King John III Sobieski, artists: Jan Matejko, Stanisław Wyspiański and Józef Mehoffer, the writer Joseph Conrad, and general Józef Bem.