Adam Mickiewicz Memorial Folk University in Lviv (1898–1914)

Abstract

In the year 1898, the students of University of Lviv, and also those of Jagiellonian University, proposed Adam Mickiewicz Memorial Folk University to be established to commemorate the one hundredth anniversary of the birth of Adam Mickiewicz, one of the Three Polish Bards. The University commenced its activity in Lviv, and it was before long that the branches of it in Cracow, Yaroslav, Tarnów, Nowy Sącz, Stryi, Sambor, Przemyśl, Rzeszow, Jasło and Chrzanow were opened. Regardless of obstacles, principally caused by the conservative circles ruling Galicia, Adam Mickiewicz Memorial Folk University managed to develop diversified activity on a mass scale. In the first two years of its existence, it organized 638 talks, which were attended by the audiences totalling approximately 90 thousand, and held in 33 villages, towns and cities in Galicia. In the years 1900–1904, 1000 talks were conducted for the audiences of nearly 155 thousand in total. Apart from talks in the realm of popular science, vocational courses, artistic events and excursions were organized; there were courses for the illiterate, and literary soirées with, among others, Maria Konopnicka, Andrzej Strug, Stefan Żeromski, Gabriela Zapolska and Władysław Gumplowicz. A lot of effort was devoted by University to making workers acquainted with culture within the scope of music and theatre. Excursions to museums, art galleries, factories and sightseeing trips were organised. The momentum and multifaceted profile of the activity of Adam Mickiewicz Memorial Folk University make it the leader amongst educational institutions on Polish land in the period preceding regaining independence in the year 1918.