Efforts to establish the Mining Academy The efforts to establish a Polish mining school in Krakow and to appoint suitable teaching staff began in the second half of the 19th century and intensified when
Galicia gained autonomy in 1860. This endeavour involved Polish engineers – miners and metallurgists, Galician representatives, and Krakow authorities. Concentrated diplomatic action was taken in Vienna to win the favour of the Austrian government. At the beginning of the 20th century, a group of prominent engineers and mining activists, led by engineer Jan Zarański, went to great lengths to obtain approval for establishing a higher education institution in Krakow to educate mining engineers. These efforts were successful, and on 10 July 1912, Krakow authorities received a permit to open an academy.
1913 – institution of the Mining Academy In April 1913, the Ministry of Civil Engineering in Vienna appointed the Organising Committee of the Mining Academy in Krakow, chaired by Professor Józef Morozewicz. The document that confirmed the establishment of a higher school of mining in Krakow was signed on 31 May 1913, by emperor
Franz Joseph I of Austria. The outbreak of
World War I made it impossible to inaugurate the first academic year of the newly established academy in October 1914. The minutes from a conference at the President of Krakow,
Juliusz Leo, contain a footnote related to the Mining Academy. A magistrate official, probably reorganising documents, wrote an additional note at the bottom of one of them that said:
‘Due to the outbreak of war, the Mining Academy was not opened, the whole matter being postponed to more peaceful times, 21st March 2015.’ Development in the interwar period On 15 June 1923, with the participation of the contemporary President of the Republic of Poland,
Stanisław Wojciechowski, and numerous representatives of the world of science and mining industry, the cornerstone of the new main building of the academy was laid. In 1925, the design of the Mining Academy emblem was created. It had the initials B.T. (Bogdan Treter) on it. It was probably approved by the General Assembly of Professors. From September 1929 to March 1930, the main building was gradually filled with departments and central administration of the academy. In 1935, the building was officially and ceremonially blessed. The academy has quickly achieved a high-quality level of education, assuming its place among the best mining schools in Europe. Moreover, since its inauguration, the academy has cooperated closely with industry, according to its resources and capabilities, and maintained connections with the Polish economy. The façade decoration was complemented by monumental statues of miners and metallurgists. The figures were made in 1935 by the sculptor Jan Raszka. On 24 August 1939, the top of the building was crowned with the statue of
Saint Barbara made by Stefan Zbigniewicz. At its two faculties, the Faculty of Mining and the Faculty of Metallurgy, in the interwar period, the Mining Academy had educated 792 engineers, many of whom later held high positions in Polish industry and higher education.
World War II The
Nazi German invasion of Poland in September 1939 brought the university to a halt. On 6 September, Krakow was seized by German troops. They began to loot and plunder the university property, and reorganise the Main Building of the Mining Academy to house the Regierung des Generalgouvernements (
General Government administration). In 1940, the statue of Saint Barbara was thrown off the top of the main building and shattered to pieces.
Sonderaktion Krakau On 6 September 1939, a general assembly of
Jagiellonian University professors was called to inform them about the policy of German authorities on science and education. On this day at noon, in room 66 of the JU Collegium Novum, professors and lecturers gathered numerously. The building was surrounded by the
Gestapo and the meeting participants were arrested. Among the detainees were also Mining Academy professors who had attended another meeting in the boardroom of the JU Faculty of Philosophy. 183 people were imprisoned, among them professors, associate professors, and assistants from both universities, as well as many other people outside the academic community. The arrested were detained at the prison at Montelupich Street in Krakow and subsequently transferred to the barracks at Mazowiecka Street. Later, they were transported to a prison in Wrocław and finally to the
concentration camp in Sachsenhausen. The concentration camp took the lives of the following: • Professor Antoni Hoborski – first Mining Academy rector (1920–1922), • Professor Władysław Takliński – Mining Academy rector (1933–1939), • Antoni Meyer, DSc – head of the MA Faculty of Mining Department of Legal Theory (1932–1939). Others who remained in the camp were Andrzej Bolewski, Stanisław Gołąb, and Julian Kamecki. They were transported to the
concentration camp in Dachau and released only in the last quarter of 1940. Releasing the professors was possible due to a united protest action of world scientific communities.
Mining Academy employees as victims of the Katyn massacre Among the victims murdered by the
NKVD on the territory of the
Soviet Union between April and May 1940 were three Mining Academy employees: • Zygmunt Mitera, DSc – Assistant Professor at the Faculty of Mining (murdered in the so-called Kharkov camp), • Tadeusz Ramza, Eng – Senior Teaching Assistant at the Faculty of Mining (shot in the back of the head during the liquidation of the prison camp of Polish officers in Starobielsk), • Augustyn Jelonek – Assistant Professor at the Faculty of Metallurgy (shot in the back of the head during the liquidation of the prison camp of Polish officers in Starobielsk). Forced by the Germans, but with the consent of the Polish government in London and the Polish Underground State, in 1943, more than a dozen Poles went to
Katyn, including the writer
Ferdynand Goetel (secretary of the Mining Academy between 1920 and 1925, brother of Professor Walery Goetel). The committees corroborated that the massacre of Polish officers was executed by the Soviets. Since the 1990s, the academy has been developing programmes of study that chart out technological advancement, such as control engineering and robotics, computer science, electronics and telecommunications, biomedical engineering, and mechatronics. In 1999, the top of the AGH Main Building was once again crowned with a reconstructed statue of Saint Barbara, made by Jan Siek. The figure was blessed on 17 June 1999, by pope
John Paul II during his sixth pilgrimage to Poland (5–17 June 1999). In relation to a debate on the change of the academy name in 2003, it has been decided that the English translation of the name will be: AGH University of Science and Technology. However, there are many documents, books, research papers etc. in English that still use the literal translation of the university name in Polish. In the academic year 2006–2007, the AGH UST implemented a new Visual Identity System, including a new sign identifying the university. In 2023, the university Senate decided that the name AGH University of Science and Technology (AGH UST) will be changed into AGH University of Krakow (AGH University). In the 21st century, the university has experienced extensive expansion. The campus premises have gained more than a dozen new buildings, and numerous existing objects have been modernised. == University symbols ==