People

Key Facts • Born: c. 1183 in the Opole region, Silesia • Died: August 15, 1257 in Kraków• Family: Noble Odrowąż family, influential in medieval Poland • Education: Universities in Prague, Paris, and Bologna – doctorate in philosophy and theology • Ordained by: Bishop Wincenty Kadłubek (later Saint Vincent Kadłubek)

Key Facts • Preeminent rabbi and Talmudic scholar (1525-1572) who transformed Jewish religious practice across Ashkenazi communities worldwide • Revolutionary author of the "Mappah" – critical glosses on Joseph Caro's Shulchan Aruch that unified Sephardic and Ashkenazi Jewish law for the first time in history • Founded Europe's most prestigious

Key Facts • Noble magnate family originating from Pomerania and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania with significant contributions to Kraków's cultural heritage • Donated a palace at Józefa Piłsudskiego Street to the National Museum in 1903 • Latin inscription "Monumentis patriae naufragio ereptis" on the palace façade reflects their mission

Key Facts • Renowned Polish writer and painter (1896-1993) who studied at both Warsaw and Kraków Academies of Fine Arts • War hero decorated with the Order of Virtuti Militari for exceptional bravery in the Polish-Soviet War (1919-1921) • Katyn Massacre survivor – one of approximately 400 Polish officers who

Key Facts • Polish count and renowned numismatist (1828-1896), born in Stańków, present-day Belarus • Created one of the world's most comprehensive Polish numismatic collections with over 60,000 specimens • Served as governor of Veliky Novgorod (1863) and deputy governor of St. Petersburg • Published the groundbreaking five-volume "Catalogue de

Key Facts • Polish painter born in Kalwaria Zebrzydowska (1841) and died in Kraków (1922) • Self-taught artist who later studied at the Academy of Fine Arts in Kraków • Government scholarship recipient (1870) for studies in Vienna • Specialized in historical, religious paintings, still lifes, and landscapes • Collaborated

Key Facts • Born in 1783 in Kęty, died in 1868 in Kraków – lived 85 years during Poland's partition period • Moved to Kraków in 1797 at age 14 and remained there for 71 transformative years • Worked 20 years in Antoni Grobel's bookshop before establishing his own antiquarian

Key Facts Born in Drohobycz in 1856, died in Kraków in 1879 at just 23 years old Most talented among his artistic brothers in a family of painters Pioneered post-impressionist tendencies in Polish art, predating international recognition of the movement by several years¹ Studied across multiple European art centers: Lviv,

Key Facts • Polish sculptor born in 1835 in Méry-sur-Cher, France, died in Paris in 1909 • Grandson of legionnaire and poet Cyprian Godebski (1765-1809) • Professor of sculpture at the St. Petersburg Academy (1860s-1870s) and later at the Warsaw Drawing Class (1875-1888) • Member of the French National Academy

Key Facts • Benedictine monk who lived at the turn of the 11th and 12th centuries and authored the first major work of Polish historical literature • Wrote the "Chronicle of the Poles" (Chronica et gesta ducum sive principum Polonorum), covering Polish history from legendary times until 1113 • Worked