Nature Education Centre

The Nature Education Centre is an entity within the Jagiellonian University that assembles natural history collections. The beginnings of the collection date back to 1782 and are associated with the establishment of the Natural History Cabinet at 6 Św. Anny St. Over the following 240 years the fate of the collection was closely linked to the history of the Cracow University - during the partitions of Poland it was intensively developed, during the Second World War it was used in secret teaching, and in the 1960s it was moved from the Old Town to the newly constructed buildings of the Jagiellonian University's Second Campus near the Błonia Meadow Park. At the beginning of the 21st century, an idea was born to create a modern university unit which would be a return to the original idea of the Natural History Cabinet, where the dispersed collections could be reunited and taken care of as a part of the University's heritage. The result of these activities is the creation of the Centre for Natural History Education in the complex of the Jagiellonian University Third Campus.

The backbone of the Centre's educational activity is the scientific collections, comprising over half a million specimens - the effect of work, passion and inquiries of many generations of researchers, the legacy being the foundation of reliable and well-established education. This in turn can be realised on the basis of the main exhibition entitled Evolution of the Earth and Life, which presents over 7,000 exhibits in thematic blocks devoted to the issues of animal systematics, biogeography, evolutionism, ethology, anthropology, palaeobiology, mineralogy, dynamic geology and sedimentology, as well as periodical thematic exhibitions. The permanent part of the exposition also includes an astronomical section and a reconstructed 19th-century natural history cabinet. The exhibition made available to visitors is based on original and often unique specimens, models and dioramas presenting reconstructions of modern and fossil ecosystems.

We encourage you to visit the Centre and find out more about our educational offer.

Draw on the experience of previous generations to develop your passions and deepen your knowledge of the world around you.

     Opening hours:

• Tuesday - 9.00 a.m. to 3.00 p.m.
• Wednesday - 9.00 a.m. to 3.00 p.m.
• Thursday - 9.00 a.m. to 3.00 p.m.
• Friday - 9.00 a.m. to 3.00 p.m.
• Saturday - 9.00 a.m. to 3.00 p.m.
• Monday and Sunday - closed