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Poland The Polish Renaissance
The sixteenth century was perhaps the most illustrious
phase
of Polish cultural history. During this period,
Poland-Lithuania
drew great artistic inspiration from the Italians, with
whom the
Jagiellon court cultivated close relations. Styles and
tastes
characteristic of the late Renaissance were imported from
the
Italian states. These influences survived in the renowned
period
architecture of Kraków, which served as the royal capital
until
that distinction passed to Warsaw in 1611. The University
of
Kraków gained international recognition as a cosmopolitan
center
of learning, and in 1543 its most illustrious student,
Nicolaus
Copernicus (Mikolaj Kopernik), literally revolutionized
the
science of astronomy.
The period also bore the fruit of a mature Polish
literature,
once again modeled after the fashion of the West European
Renaissance. The talented dilettante Mikolaj Rej was the
first
major Polish writer to employ the vernacular, but the
elegant
classicist Jan Kochanowski (1530-84) is acknowledged as
the
genius of the age. Accomplished in several genres and
equally
adept in Polish and Latin, Kochanowski is widely regarded
as the
finest Slavic poet before the nineteenth century.
Data as of October 1992
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