In the article, four illustrations by Aleksander Gierymski are described. These illustrations were completed for the illustrated press during Gierymski’s sojourn in Italy from 1885 to 1886. These illustrations were typical of the “Polish traces in Italy,” relating to Padua in this case, and were published in the magazines Wędrowiec and Kłosy. These illustrations show the tombs of exceptional Poles who were buried in Padua; commemorative plaques dedicated to them (in honour of Copernicus); or the monuments of Prato della Valle (Sobieski and Batory). However, in the article, based on the illustrations and the accompanying texts, and based on the artist’s correspondences (with the likes of Józef Ignacy Kraszewski, Michał Wiszniewski, Stanisław Dunin-Borkowski, and Władysław Bełza) and his diaries relating his time in Italy, the following issues, amongst others, will be addressed: Gierymski’s work method; the discourse (including the visual discourse) of “Polish traces in Italy” in Padua; Gierymski’s illustrations as an interpretation of the Polish lieux de mémoire in Italy. The article encourages an adoption, in the future, of a wider perspective that includes the illustrations of the “Polish traces in Italy” of other Polish artists from that period.

Medieval Polish and Silesian collections stored in the Charles University Archive in Prague.

The article presents a brief history of the medieval manuscript collections of the Charles University Archives in Prague which includes a catalogue of 13 medieval (1345– –1508) Polish and Silesian charters stored there