About This Location
This part of Kraków feels like the university’s front door. The neo-Gothic Collegium Novum became the Jagiellonian University’s main building in the late 19th century, opened on June 14, 1887, and it is still the administrative center today. Nearby, look for the Nicolaus Copernicus statue. Copernicus studied at the Kraków Academy, the earlier form of today’s university, and the monument was designed by Cyprian Godebski in 1899 and completed in 1900. It was first placed in the courtyard of Collegium Maius and later moved to the Planty area by the university buildings, where it became a quiet symbol of Kraków’s link to European science. Just as meaningful, but easier to miss, is the Drzewo Wolności - the Tree of Freedom. This oak was planted on May 3, 1919, in front of Collegium Novum to mark the May 3 Constitution anniversary, celebrated again in an independent Poland after 1918. Over time it became an academic symbol - a place connected with memory, loyalty to truth, and tribute to university professors and students who paid a high price in the 20th century.