Summary
It was not until after the reinstatement of the Chair of Geography in 1877, that the Cracow centre of geography was added any Polislt back-drop. Five years later the Lwów University opened a Chair of Geography.
Thus, one can naturally divide the period considered into three sub-pe-riods: 1) until the First World War, 2) between the wars and 3) after the Second World War.
During the first period, Professor F. Czerny-Schwarzenberg, the head of the Cracow Chair of Geography, did not undertake any significant research or personnel training. This changed with the arrival of two young assistant professors; L. Sawicki (graduate of the University of Vienna) and j, Smoleński (a geologist of the Cracow University) recorded parti-cular accomplishments in the field of geomorphology. Meanwhile, at the Lwów University professor A. Rehman conducted research and trained a number of followers including the most eminent Polish geographer, E.
Romer, who excelled particularly in cartography. (He published the “Geo-graficzno-statystyczny Atlas Polski", or the “Geographic and Statistical Atlas of Poland" in 1916, which gained a great importance when Poland, follo-wing its regained independence in 1918, began establishing its borders.)
During the second period, between the two world wars, five universi-ties included geography among their subjects (the additions included the Universities of Warsaw, Poznań and Wilno). After the premature death of L. Sawicki in 1928, J. Smoleński became the leading figure in the field of geography in Cracow, noted for his educational work and for his tra-ining accomplishments. Geography at the Jagiellonian University distin-guished itself with a developed organisational structure and an already clear division within physical geography. In Lwów, less was accomplished in education but staff development was notable: A. Zierhoffer replaced the retired E. Romer. Research at this university focused on geomorpho-logy with the exception of E. Romer whose continued successful work in the field of cartography secured him two consecutive terms as the Depu-ty Chairman of the International Geographic Union. The universities of Warsaw and Wilno developed the relatively poorest educational records, which in the latter case was surprising because it was headed by S. Lence-wicz - an eminent geornorphologist and author of the excellent geogra-phy textbook entitled “Polska" (“Poland”, 1937). During the inter-war period, geographers from all the universities concentrated their research primarily on Poland in an effort to make up for the huge gaps in the knowledge of the country caused bv the period of more than a hundred years when it was partitioned by the neighbouring countries. L. Sawicki of Cracow undertook the only significant research project conducted abro-ad.
The end of the second world war in 1945, which marked the begin-ning of the third period of Polish geography, saw a major westward shift of the Polish borders resulting in only three of the established centres of geography remaining within the Polish territory (Cracow, Warsaw and
Poznan). This number soon increased to seven, with the addition of geo-graphy to the curricula of the Universities of Lublin, Łódź, Toruń and Wroclaw, in 1945. This was facilitated by the efforts of geographers re-settled form Wilno and Lwów, the cities Poland had lost to the Soviet Union. Such an increase facilitated an intensive geographic exchange between all centres, including Cracow. Between 1950s and 1960s insti-tutes of geography were founded at all these universities, each with seve-ral departments and more full-time staff than all the pre-war centres com-bined. This increase in the number of personnel and the injection of “fresh blood” resulted in the development of international research and in the international recognition of Polish geographers who were elected to chair several commissions of the International Geographic LJnion (in physical geography: j. Dylik, A. Jahn and M. Klimaszewski). Particularly impor-tant from the international standpoint was the detailed geomorphologic mapping initiated in Poland by M. Klimaszewski, the eminent geomor phologist from Cracow (1968), and the periglacial geomorphology rese-arch (“Biuletyn Peryglacialny” edited by J. Dylik since 1 954, for a period of time an official journal of the. IGU; A. Jahn 1975).
This period of rapid expansion resulted in the establishment of many university centres of geography with clear specialisations in the 1970s. In Cracow, after the founding of the Polish Academy of Sciences’ Depart-ment of Mountain and Upland Geomorphology and Hydrology, this si-tuation was as follows:
Physical geography. Since the beginning of 1970s, the role of geomor-phologic research has been on the decrease; the successors of M. Klima-szewski were looking for new fields of research, predominantly in moun-tain areas. In 1970s and 1980s the efforts of Professor I. Dynowska led to a notable level of hvdrological/hydrographical studies; staff losses du-ring 1990s have significantly weaken this discipline. Cracow distingu-ished itself in comparison with other Polish universities in clirnatologic research conducted in 1970s and 1980s by professor M. Hess and conti-nued by Professors B. Obrębska-Starklowa and J. Trepińska. Set. up as a separate department only in 1 990, soil sciences are still a beginning disci-pline when compared to the longer history of their counterparts at other universities (Torun, Lublin, Lódz and Warsaw). Just as in most Polish universities, biogeography is not represented at the Jagiellonian L! niver-sity.
General physical geography. Boasting the longest tradition as a sepa-rate geographic discipline in Poland, comprehensive physical geography at the Jagiellonian University is currently neither particularly strong, nor clearly moving in the direction of landscape ecology, an area of study that has been pursued actively elsewhere. However, the JU Institute of
Geo-graphy retains a potential for addressing this issue having very well equ-ipped Department of Geographical Information Systems and Depart-ment of Cartography and Remote Sensing. If engaged in an active co-operation, these departments could ensure modernisation of the com-prehensive physical research. Paleogeography is one area of physical geo-graphy not represented at the jagiellonian University in contrast to the rest of the country’s geographical centres; it is only pursued at the Cra-cow-based Department of Mountain and Upland Geomorphology and Hydrology of the Polish Academy of Sciences.