Inauguration of the Center for Medieval Studies (CMS)

The Center for Medieval Studies, one of whose main objectives is the implementation of extensive editorial and inventory research on the history of medieval Poland, began its activity at the John Paul II Catholic University of Lublin. The inauguration of the new scientific institution took place on June 27 in the Hall of the Interdisciplinary Center for Scientific Research.

The Center for Medieval Studies as a new scientific and research center – according to the rector of KUL, Rev. Prof. Mirosław Kalinowski, who opened the ceremony - is an emanation of the desires and aspirations of people not only associated with the Catholic University of Lublin, but also a consequence of extensive cooperation between Lublin historians and researchers from Poland and abroad. While drawing attention to the value of these studies and their development in the period of PRL-u, the rector of KUL emphasized that "our Center has, in its record, over 100 years of tradition of humanitistic studies at the Catholic University of Lublin."

Giving the example of the Center for the History of Culture in the Middle Ages, an institution whose beginnings date back to 1965, Rev. Prof. Mirosław Kalinowski further said: "In these difficult times, the initiators and employees of scientific centers turned out to be a real gift from heaven, which, acting generally above the faculty structures, sometimes developed unique fruits of scientific culture."

The rector of KUL added: "Today's inauguration of the Center for Medieval Studies will be part of the rich achievement of previous generations, certainly continuing their research and popularizing it using digital means of social communication."

On the occasion of the inauguration of the Center for Medieval Studies, a congratulatory letter sent by the Minister of Education and Science, Przemysław Czarnek, was read out to the researchers of the Middle Ages and the guests of the inauguration by Dr. Tomasz Wicha from the Scientific Policy Committee at the Ministry of Education and Science. Moreover, during the ceremony, Prof. Zdzisław Noga (KEN Pedagogical University in Krakow), who is the chairman of the Scientific Council of the CMS conveyed wishes for fruitful researches. The inaugural lectures were delivered by Prof. Dr. habil. Tomasz Jurek (Institute of History of the Polish Academy of Sciences) and Prof. Dr. habil. Marek Walczak (JU) while occasional speeches (online) were also given by Prof. František Šmahel from the Czech Republic and Prof. Gábor Klaniczay from Hungary.

The Center for Medieval Studies, headed by Dr. habil. Pawel Kras, prof. KUL, has the task of undertaking and carrying out extensive editorial and inventory research on the history of medieval Poland, using modern digital research methods (digital humanities) in Polish medieval studies, and internationalizing Polish research on the Middle Ages.

“This is a special moment for all of us. We are studying history, distant history, but we also have the opportunity to create history and I personally feel that this is the moment when we are making history.” This was said by Prof. Paweł Kras, who presented the history of the creation of the Center, its structure and tasks, as well as numerous and outstanding researchers supporting the new center. He added: “We have great teams, great leaders, we have excellent young staff, young and very promising employees, who wanted to tie their fate to this Centre, and this is just the beginning.”

The activities that the Center will undertake - as noted during the inauguration - are "critical elaboration and modern access to unpublished source materials of fundamental importance for Polish history and culture, including extensive, counting in hundreds, and sometimes thousands of items, collections of documents and manuscripts". Other activities of the CMS, whose mission can be found on the WEBSITE of CMS, include the development and sharing of a collection of Polish medieval seals, as well as the creation of a bibliography of Polish medieval studies.

“As a result of these works, both Polish and foreign researchers and students will receive modern research tools for research into the history of medieval Poland.” This comment came from the Center for Medieval Studies which noted that a nationwide team of several dozen researchers specializing in source studies and editing of historical sources was established to carry out these tasks. It was added that “they represent various university centers and institutes of the Polish Academy of Sciences. The Center also cooperates with domestic and foreign partners, thanks to which it has a chance to become a platform for exchanging experiences and training younger scientists, thus investing in the future of Polish medieval studies.”