HISTORIA ET MEDICINA
Exhibit of the Month

The history of the Medical University of Bialystok covers 75 years of the intertwining of medicine, history, architecture and art.

The MUB Museum of the History of Medicine and Pharmacy invites you to join us for a walk into the University's past as part of the series ‘Historia et Medicina. Exhibit of the Month'. From February to December 2025, selected exhibits related to the history of the Medical University and its main seat, the Branicki Palace, will be presented in the vestibule of the Branicki Palace in Bialystok. The collections will be placed in a special display case set up in the symbolic space that has been the palace vestibule since the 18th century. It was the first room in which guests arriving at the Branicki Palace were welcomed. The monumental space of the hall, filled with illusionist paintings and antique sculptures, made a great impression on visitors. The vestibule also housed the most important symbols of the authority of the Grand Hetman of the Crown, Jan Klemens Branicki, i.e. the Hetman's mace.

In 2025, on the occasion of the 75th anniversary of the Medical University of Bialystok, we would like, following the example of the Branicki family, to present the most precious memorabilia connected with the history of the University, its organisers and the history of medicine in Bialystok.

We invite you to join us in discovering the next pages of the history of medicine.

PROF. TADEUSZ KIELANOWSKI – FOUNDER AND FIRST RECTOR OF THE MEDICAL

UNIVERSITY OF BIAŁYSTOK

The series "Historia et Medicina. Exhibit of the Month at the Museum of the Medical University of Białystok" begins with items associated with Professor Tadeusz Kielanowski (1905–1992), the founder and first Rector of the Medical Academy in Białystok (now the Medical University of Białystok).

Professor Tadeusz Kielanowski was born in Lviv into a family of doctors. Initially prepared for a diplomatic career, he studied law at the Sorbonne in Paris and at the School of Political Sciences. Following his passion and life’s mission, he began studying at the Faculty of Medicine at Jan Kazimierz University in Lviv in 1925. He undertook numerous research internships in Germany, England, and France, specializing in phthisiology, the study of lung diseases and tuberculosis.
In Lviv, he established a sanatorium for students suffering from tuberculosis, modeled after Western European institutions, which he managed.

After World War II, he played a key role in organizing higher education in Lublin. He was affiliated with the Maria Curie-Skłodowska University, where he served as Dean of the Faculty of Medicine (1946–1948) and, from 1948, as Rector of the university.

In 1949, when the decision was made to establish the tenth Medical Academy in Poland, in Białystok, Professor Kielanowski was invited to serve as its first Rector and organizer. Despite the challenging post-war conditions and the lack of academic traditions in the city, Rector Kielanowski created a robust academic, research, and clinical center. He served as the first Rector of the Medical Academy of Białystok from 1950 to 1955. At the same time, he organized and led the University's first Clinic of Phthisiology (Lung Diseases and Tuberculosis). He also established a network of anti-tuberculosis clinics in the Białystok region.

In 1956, he moved to the Medical Academy in Gdańsk, where he became the head of the Department of Phthisiology. He retired in 1975. Professor Kielanowski was one of Poland’s most distinguished representatives of medical ethics and the humanities in medicine. He initiated the establishment of the first helpline in Poland and was an advocate for conscious parenthood.

In 1965, for his outstanding contributions, he was awarded the title of Doctor Honoris Causa by the Medical Academy of Białystok. Professor Kielanowski passed away on May 6, 1992, in Gdynia and was laid to rest in the Srebrzysko Cemetery in Gdańsk. Since 2006, the main avenue in the gardens of the Branicki Palace in Białystok has been named “Tadeusz Kielanowski Boulevard.”

Dissection set belonging to professor Tadeusz Kielanowski, 1920s
Donated by dr. Jan Pietruski (senior). Collection of the Museum of the Medical University of Białystok. Professor Kielanowski received this set from his father, Bolesław Pobóg Kielanowski, also a doctor, to mark the start of his medical studies at the Faculty of Medicine at Jan Kazimierz University in Lviv (1925–1931).

„Carl Zeiss Jena” Microscope, belonging to professor Tadeusz Kielanowski, 1920s–1930s
From the collection of professor Jan Pietruski. Professor Kielanowski used this microscope during his medical practice in Lviv in the 1930s and 1940s.