How the 500th Anniversary of Copernicus Contributed to an Architectural Boom

planetarium_olsztyn_07.jpg, default, Planetarium & BWA Gallery, Olsztyn, photo: Anna Cymer

The 500th anniversary of the birth of Nicolaus Copernicus in 1973 was marked by huge celebrations in numerous Polish cities. What distinguished that anniversary from others was the significant construction boom it brought on. Today, we still benefit and make use of the architectural output that accompanied the festivities.

In 1969, the international UNESCO committee announced that in 4 years, by virtue of the ‘extraordinary significance of Copernicus’s discoveries for the progress of the exact sciences and the development of human thought’, the 500th anniversary of the birth of this scientist would be celebrated worldwide. In multiple cities, such as London and New York, special committees were established to be responsible for organising cultural and scientific events related to the astronomer. Listed among the most important would be the exhibitions devoted to Copernicus, held, for instance, in the National Library in Paris, the British Museum in London, and the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, DC; an academic conference organised as part of the Extraordinary General Assembly of the International Astronomical Union; and the release of the English edition of Copernicus’s complete works by the Polish Academy of Sciences.

Postage stamp depicting Nicolaus Copernicus, Poland, 1973, photo: iStockphoto / Getty Images

Commemorative postage stamps were released in dozens of countries. A statue of Nicolaus Copernicus was erected in Chapultepec Park in Mexico City. One of the telescopes in the astronomical observatory at Asiago belonging to the University of Padua was named after the Polish scientist, as was one of the streets of Moscow.

Medals & gowns

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Polish Academy of Arts & Sciences commemorative medal issued for 75th anniversary of its establishment, in photo: obverse with image of astronomer Nicolaus Copernicus & Latin inscription: ‘Nicolaus Copernicus qui solem stare terram moveri iussi’, 1948, Kraków, photo: CAF / PAP

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However, the largest number of events, as well as of permanent traces of the 1973 celebrations, are to be found in Poland. Nicolaus Copernicus was born 19 February 1473 in Toruń, and it was this city that became the centre stage for commemorating the 500th anniversary of his birth. A lot of effort was put into paying tribute to the astronomer in those towns which Copernicus regularly visited, where he studied and worked – that is, Frombork, Olsztyn and Lidzbark Warmiński. All the exhibitions, conferences, lecture series, meetings, concerts, performances and dozens of other scientific and cultural events taking place throughout 1973 were held in basically each corner of Poland; the Archdiocese of Warmia had its own committee, event series and commemorative activities.

The Nicolaus Copernicus chamber, Wieliczka Salt Mine, photo: Piotr Wojnarowski / Forum

It was then that one of the chambers in the Wieliczka Salt Mine was named after Nicolaus Copernicus, and the Telimena Fashion House, in collaboration with the Milanówek Natural Silk Plant, launched a collection of ballgowns inspired by the astronomer’s discoveries (two of the gowns now belong to the collection of the Central Museum of Textiles in Łódź).

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Kosmos Hotel, Toruń, built in 1973, photo: Jacek Marczewski / AW

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What distinguishes the celebrations of the Copernican anniversary year from other anniversaries is the fact that a crucial part of the festivities involved… construction projects. Therefore, the events of 1973 have left a material mark that’s not only visible to this day but also continually used – just as one thousand years of Polish statehood was commemorated by a decision of the authorities with a tangible gesture: the building of one thousand schools (in reality, even more were built). The legacy of the Copernican Year included not only transcripts of scientific lectures or the documentation of exhibitions that took place but also durable brick structures.

Toruń, the centre of activities

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The Nicolaus Copernicus House, Toruń, photo: Jacek Marczewski / AW

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The largest architectural undertakings, launched as early as in the late 1960s (so that they would be ready for the climactic year of 1973) can be divided into two categories. One comprises new investments, including, most notably, the campus of Nicolaus Copernicus University and the Helios and Kosmos hotels in Toruń, the planetarium and art gallery building in Olsztyn, as well as numerous monuments to and busts of the astronomer. However, the Copernican Year was also beneficial for historical buildings, since no less attention and funds were devoted to repairs and renovations of historical sites related to Copernicus. What underwent extension and refurbishment was, of course, the Copernicus House. Located in the former St Anna Street (now Nicolaus Copernicus Street), the Gothic townhouse belonged to the astronomer’s family in the 15th century. In 1973, the historic building became home to the Nicolaus Copernicus Museum. On this occasion, the townhouse regained its historic interior layout, and the ornamental facade was restored to its former splendour.

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Lidzbark Castle, photo: Wojciech Wojcik / Forum

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The anniversary celebrations left their trace also in Olsztyn. What underwent modernisation here in the early 1970s was the Castle of the Warmia Bishopric Chapter, where Copernicus likely resided in 1516–19 and 1520–21, holding the post of the administrator of the bishopric chapter’s estates. Another building renovated at the time was the Gothic Castle of Warmia Bishops in Lidzbark Warmiński. Here, Copernicus lived in the initial years of the 16th century as the secretary and doctor of the local bishop (and here, according to researchers, he began his observation of celestial bodies). Due to the scale and significance of the national celebrations, the activities related to the renovation of historical sites revolved not only around individual buildings directly linked to the astronomer. Rather, the entire old towns of Toruń and Olsztyn were refurbished. The most extraordinary activities, however, were undertaken in Frombork. With 80% of it destroyed during World War Two and not rebuilt since, the city was the place where the action called ‘Operation Frombork 1001’ took place in 1966–73. It was an undertaking led by the Polish Scouting and Guiding Association, and the participants included as many as 45,000 scouts and guides.

Nicolaus Copernicus monument, Frombork, 2022, photo: Stanisław Bielski / Reporter / East News

It was they who, to celebrate the anniversary of the astronomer’s birth, volunteered to declutter and rebuilt some of the buildings in Frombork Old Town with their own hands. Buildings were raised from ruin, pavements and streets were laid, greenery was planted. A scout jamboree was held in Frombork from 13 to 16 July 1973 to crown the several years of work. Moreover, also on the occasion of the anniversary, a monument to Copernicus was unveiled in Frombork, and the Kopernik Hotel was opened.

A space for study

With the performance of Krzysztof Penderecki’s Cosmogony on 16 February 1973, the operation of the campus of Nicolaus Copernicus University in Toruń (UMK) was inaugurated. Built over four years in the Toruń district of Bielany, it is without a doubt the largest and most significant architectural development that emerged to mark the Copernican Year. The university itself was established in 1945, meant to partially replace the liquidated Jan Kazimierz University in Lviv and Stefan Batory University in Vilnius (it was from the latter that a part of UMK’s academic staff was recruited). In the mid-1960s, the decision was made to build a university campus where the faculties and departments that until then had been scattered throughout the city could be concentrated.

Bird’s eye view of campus of Nicolaus Copernicus University, Toruń, photo: Daniel Pach / Forum

The entire project, planned for a total of 82 hectares, was prepared by an academic team led by Ryszard Karłowicz at the Department of Urban Planning of the Faculty of Architecture at the Warsaw University of Technology. It was Karłowicz who drafted the simple and clear layout of the campus based on two intersecting axes, one that was research-educational and one that was social-residential. The wooded part of the site was intended for student dormitories, hotels for lecturers, a canteen, and a clinic; the main teaching buildings were located along the north-south axis, emphasised by a roofed pedestrian walkway.

One enters the campus through an unusual gate, marked by two elevated buildings: the rector’s office building (a glass cube) and an aula with white façades, complemented by an eye-catching piece of artwork. The central element of the project is located behind this ‘gate’ – the Main Forum, with a centrally located pond and the library building. A row of buildings begins on the western side of the Forum, faculty offices, one behind the other (the first one, directly next to the Forum, is the Department of Chemistry building). It is important that the layout was designed so that it could be expanded in the future, locating further buildings of the expanding university on the axis without giving up the clarity of the project.

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Campus of Nicolaus Copernicus University, Toruń, library building, photo: Anna Cymer

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Although each of the buildings on the campus of Nicolaus Copernicus University in Toruń was designed by a different architect (e.g. the Main Forum was drawn by Konrad Kucz-Kuczyński, the rector’s office building and aula by Marek Różański, the library by Witold Benedek, the student dormitories by Wincenty Szober, etc), the entire area is very cohesive. The forms of the buildings are extraordinarily simple, looking for any signs of architectural extravagance would be futile.

Overseeing the whole enterprise, Ryszard Karłowicz would repeatedly emphasise that the legibility of the spatial layout, the order and harmony of the entire project were much more important than the shapes of individual structures. However, even the most orderly spatial composition requires a trademark element. For the UMK, it’s the mural panel placed on the university aula’s façade, with its shiny surface and striking richness of colours.

Campus of the Nicolaus Copernicus University, Toruń, photo: Anna Cymer

The piece, weighing one and a half tons, arrived in Poland in October 1972 by ship from Great Britain, which is where its creator, Stefan Knapp, had lived and worked since World War Two. The composition, abstract and inspired by the astronomer’s achievements, was made with the use of Knapp’s own original technique. The artist covered the steel sheets with porcelain clearcole, after which he applied paint made of powdered glass and metal oxides; the entire piece was then baked multiple times, which made its surface immune to weather conditions. Today, the colourful mural panel is one of Poland’s best-known artworks integrated into the architecture.

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Mikołaj Kopernik w oczach Stefana Knappa. Historia powstania niezwykłej płaskorzeźby na UMK

Inspired by the stars

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Planetarium & BWA Gallery, Olsztyn, photo: Anna Cymer

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A similar work by the same artist, although rendered in a different colour scheme and with a horizontal layout, can be seen in the second building raised to commemorate the Copernican Year – that is, the complex containing the planetarium and the BWA art gallery in Olsztyn. It opened officially on 19 February 1973, which is the exact day of the 500th anniversary of the birth of the astronomer who authored On the Revolutions of the Heavenly Spheres. The designer of the building, Ludomir Gosławski, enclosed each of the functions in a separate pavilion (a vast dome spreads over the planetarium), but he integrated them all through a common courtyard – complemented by Knapp’s composition as well as a range of other details – and landscaping sculptures. Most of the pavilions, along with the metalwork (such as wrought-iron gratings) have been preserved to this day, and the building, together with its details, was entered into the register of objects of cultural heritage in 2021.

Professor Owen Gingerich, a Harvard astronomer, astrophysicist and historian of science, wrote in 1973 on the pages of a magazine published by UNESCO: ‘From his “distant corner of the world”, Copernicus set in motion not only the Earth but also

Legnica, Corner of Main Square & Świętego Jana Street, mosaic made by Henryk Baca for 500th anniversary of Nicolaus Copernicus’s birth, 1973, photo: MOs810 / (CC BY-SA 4.0) / Wikimedia.org

the spirit of modern scientific research’. As has been revealed by the celebrations of the 500th anniversary of the astronomer’s birth, he has been able to inspire not only scientists but also creators working in countless different fields: the Copernican Year has yielded commemorative postage stamps and medals; to this day, Polish cities boast monuments (a statue of Johannes Hevelius was additionally raised in Gdańsk for Copernicus’s anniversary) and mosaics depicting the explorer of stars and planets (such as the one in Legnica’s Main Square). The astronomer was also commemorated through the renovation of historical sites and newly raised buildings, important, necessary and used to this day. No one has likely yet investigated which of these undertakings has turned out to be a more permanent and effective way to pay homage to the great scientist.

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