5,079
edits
Changes
Jump to navigation
Jump to search
Well, yes, the unique collection of sundials, said to be the world's third largest, is what the museum is best known for. It was the local doctor, Feliks Przypkowski, who started collecting sundials in 1895, a hobby later taken up by his son, Tadeusz Przypkowski. However, not only did Tadeusz, a true Renaissance man, continue his father's passion, he also had a number of his own; his interests included the history of arts and astronomy, printmaking and bromoil photography, bibliophilia and bookplates, heraldry and numismatics... as well as the enjoyment of good food and drink.
Before World War II, Tadeusz Przypkowski obtained his PhD in arts history at Jagiellonian University in Cracow and followed his studies with extensive travels (including Germany, Italy, France, Belgium, the Netherlands, England, Spain, Portugal, North Africa, the Balkan Peninsula, Norway and Estonia). Eventually Back in Poland, he got a job as a cultural propaganda specialist -- first in Cracow and later in Warsaw. Back then, the word ``propaganda" didn't carry negative connotation it does today; think of it as equivalent to ``promotion" or ``public relations". His duties as a cultural propagandist in Cracow included serving as a tourist guide to showing high-ranking foreign visitors around the historic monuments of Poland's former capital (among others, he had the questionable honour of showing serving as a tourist guide to the German minister of propaganda, Josef Goebbels, around Poland's historic capital). He Eventually, he settled down back home in Jędrzejów -- a small town on the road from Kielce to Cracow -- once the war broke out, but still kept in touch with many interesting people from various countries, especially France. ``I am to be found either in Paris," he was fond of saying, ``or in Jędrzejów."<ref>{{Cyt
| tytuł = Przekrój
| nazwisko r = Roszko
}}</ref>
[[File:Podkładka pod piwo z zegarem słonecznym.jpg|thumb|upright=.9|left|Obiekt ze zbiorów jędrzejowskiego muzeum, w którym łączą się dwie pasje Tadeusza PrzypkowskiegoAn artifact in the collection of Przypkowski Museum which reflects two of Tadeusz Przypkowski's passions: gnomoniczna i gastronomicznagnomonics and gastronomy. Jest to podkładka pod piwo z herbem JędrzejowaIt's a beer coaster adorned with the coat of arms of the town of Jędrzejów and equipped with a folded gnomon, or pointer, która po postawieniu składanej wskazówki może też robić za zegar słonecznywhich can turn it into a sundial.]]
W Jędrzejowie pomagał ojcu w zbieraniu, badaniu i projektowaniu zegarów słonecznych, a po jego śmierci w 1951 r. przejął po nim opiekę nad kolekcją i nad założonym w dwóch kamienicach przy jędrzejowskim rynku muzeum. Z czasem stał się jednym z czołowych gnomoników, czyli specjalistów od zegarów słonecznych, na świecie. Zegary słoneczne, które znajdują się na Kościele Mariackim w Krakowie, Zamku Królewskim w Warszawie, czy obserwatorium astronomicznym w Greenwich, są właśnie jego projektu.
