reSEArch-EU - European University of the Seas

OSA- dr Jacek Pokrzywnicki
University of Gdańsk, Poland
Workshop in reading old latin manuscript

Introduction
When thinking about a recent activity for the programme of the recent edition of the Pomeranian Researchers Night (2023) I produced an idea of workshops in reading old Latin manuscripts and prints that would be suitable for public. Together with the staff of the Gdańsk Library of the Polish Academy of Sciences we established a team whose goal was to create a scenario of the event that we named “Around the Sun and the Moon” with a subtitle “workshops on reading old astronomic graphics and treatises from the collection of the Gdansk Library of the Polish Academy of Sciences”.

We wanted to give to the audience, regardless the age, both entertaining and immersive experience that would be somehow like the one of any scholars with focus on the old manuscripts and early printed books. Also, it was our goal to draw the interest of people to the procedures typical for any historian and made people more aware of the skills important to anyone interested in the written documents of the past.

About 11 days before the event, we started public campaign in social media (FB, IG). This was a part of a bigger event created by the Consortium of the ‘Fahrenheit’s Universities’ and other institutions from the area of Tricity (Hevelianum, Centrum Nauki Experyment/’Experyment’ Science Centre, PAN Biblioteka Gdańska/Gdańsk Library of the Polish Academy of Sciences) with financial support of the Polish Ministry of Education and Science. A website of the Pomeranian Researchers Night (https://pomorskanocnaukowcow.eu/) was established as the main platform with the agenda of the Night and the possibility of registration for any individuals interested in participation to any event planned during the event, our workshop included. Below – photos and screenshots (both promotional banners, the website of the Researchers night and the advertisement of the workshops from the website).

Agenda
Part 1 (ground floor)
introduction to the general topic of the workshop (great figures of the scientific revolution of the early modern era: Copernicus, Brahe, Kepler, Hevelius); the staff of the Gdańsk Library (Polish Academy of Sciences) conducted this part of the event.

Part 2 (special collections reading room)

1. presentation of selected early printed books (among others, the second edition ‘De revolutionibus orbium coelestium’ by Nicolaus Copernicus and ‘Theatrum cometicum’ by the seventeenth century Socinian scholar and historian Stanislaus Lubieniecki) with important handwritten annotations.
2. quiz on finding the names cited by S. Lubieniecki in his own handwritten
   dedication to the Magistrate of the old Gdańsk.
3. reading of the two handwritten texts from the 16th and 17th century
   a. short poem of Bartholomaeus Keckermann on a significant Copernicus’ contribution to the science
   b. dedication from the ‘Theatrum cometicum’ written with the hand of the author, i.e., S. Lubieniecki himself, for the Magistrate of old Gdańsk.
4. brief Q&A session at the end of the workshop.

Outcome
The audience of the workshops participated in reading of prints and handwritten scripts from the past; thus, we created an opportunity to show to the public instruments and techniques used by professionals (historians and philologists) who acquire information from the documents of the past.

Target date: 29.09.2023

Promotional material

An announcement of the workshops (from the registration tab at the website of the Pomeranian
Researchers Night ’23) – below

Are you interested in history? Do you, par chance, browse second-hand bookshops, or just like unusual books? The Gdańsk Library (Polish Academy of Sciences) and the Department of Classical Philology of the University of Gdańsk would like to invite you to a joint interactive exploration of old astronomical engravings, prints and manuscripts, entitled “Around the Sun and the Moon – the workshops in reading astronomical engravings and texts from the collections of old Gdańsk residents”.
During the sessions, you would learn interesting facts from the history of astronomy and try your hand at reading fragments of old books, engravings, and manuscripts. We welcome everyone over 7 years of age – no upper age limit. For children, we are planning an art competition combined with learning selected astronomical terms.

The event titled “Around the Sun and the Moon – a workshop on reading engravings and astronomical texts from the collections of former inhabitants of Gdańsk (collection of the Polish Academy of Sciences Library in Gdańsk)” is a joint popularization project of the Department of Classical Philology (Institute of Classical Studies and Slavic Studies, Faculty of Philology of the University of Gdańsk) and the Department of Special Collections (Library of Gdańsk of the Polish Academy of Sciences) ). During the event, we
plan to jointly (parents and children) read and explain engravings and fragments of works by outstanding astronomers of the early modern era, especially Nicolaus Copernicus and Johannes Hevelius. At several separate stations in the rooms of the Polish Academy of Sciences Library in Gdańsk, you will be able to try your hand at deciphering illustrations from astronomical works or even reading (with the help of translation) original fragments – handwritten or printed – from old works on astronomy that are stored in the collection of historical collections of the Gdańsk Library (Polish Academy of Sciences).