zdjęcie przedstawiające ludzi w oratorium marianum — On the right, dr hab. Piotr Krzysztof Marszałek, professor at the University of Wrocław. Photo: Paweł Piotrowski/University of Wrocław

About the University people’s passions. Small works of art

Everyone knows what a stamp is. What about a philatelic sheet? It is a publishing form of stamps, which includes not more than sixteen identical or different pieces, and not less than five identical ones. A philatelic sheet often occurs with labels or margins with occasional writing.

– I have designed more than twenty projects of philatelic sheets with stamps so far, and fourteen of them are connected to the University – says dr hab. Piotr Krzysztof Marszałek, prof. UWr.

The newest sheet, devised by prof. Marszałek is devoted to the 80^th anniversary of the Polish University of Wrocław. Dr hab. Marszałek, prof. UWr is a lawyer and an academic teacher specializing in issues of systemic law, defensive law, and emergency law. He works in the Department of Security Studies in the Institute of International Studies and Security in the Faculty of Social Sciences. During his studies at the University of Wrocław, he was a member of the University Strike Committee and the University Committee for Referendum in the matter of changing the name of the University (Bierut’s University). Professor Marszałek wrote on our website how they voted Bierut out of the UWr. However, this entry is not about Bierut and security, nor about the Academic Legion School, whose coordinator at the UWr is prof. Marszałek, but about his passion.

As the professor tells: – It all started when I was a small boy fascinated by stamps. At first, I bought stamped stamps in small parcels at the “Ruch” kiosk, and since 1968, I bought them on subscription.

He stopped collecting stamps not so long ago. – It lost some sense. My sons weren’t interested in philately, and I’m still waiting for grandchildren, so I have nobody to give collections of over a dozen clusters to – he laughs. – But then I came up with an idea…

And that is how prof. Piotr Krzysztof Marszałek started to design stamps and whole sheets himself. As the professor relates: – It coincided with the 30^th anniversary of the Faculty of Social Sciences when I designed an occasional sheet. We were soon organising an international conference devoted to the 20^th anniversary of Poland being in NATO, and we needed to come up with something commemorating the event. The next sheet was an answer.

In the following years, the professor created projects of sheets which refer to various events connected with the University, the research university, and the renovation of sights at the University. – I commemorated remarkable scholars, rectors, and deans. Recently, I have designed a sheet for the 80^th anniversary of the Polish University of Wrocław.

As the professor admits, he doesn’t have his favourite stamp and sheet. – I actually treat all of them equally because each of them reflects in some way my emotions connected to people, events, and situations. Stamps are also collected because of their mistakes and flaws made in the process of production. Typographical mistakes and colour defects occur most frequently.

Apparently, the most expensive stamp is the Three-Skilling Yellow, which has a misprint of the Swedish government from 1855. The correct version (blue and green) is also rare.

We asked the professor whether he pays attention to such details while collecting stamps. – Yes, obviously. I was interested in such cases, but the truth is that stamps with mistakes are very rare and have their price, which is beyond my reach – he says. – But I must admit that one of my sheets has such a mistake – he reveals.

The matter of whether it can influence its value is still open. – It will turn out, but actually all sheets devised by me are rare – he wonders. – Each of them was designed in the number of eleven pieces, besides the recent series for the 80^th anniversary, which has several dozen of them. All stamps in the sheets are normal mainstream stamps that you can pay for usual postal parcels with. Hence, they still fulfil their basic function.

We asked the professor how many stamps he has in his collection. – I must admit that I have never counted my stamps. Besides subscription stamps, I also possess other series. I was interested in architecture at one time, and then I collected stamps presenting buildings. I created not so small a collection out of it, which I can present to one of my sons who chose this profession – he reveals.

Meanwhile, the Danish post will stop delivering letters at this year’s end due to the lack of profitability of this service and the progressive digitalisation. The post operator wants to focus solely on delivering parcels. The question is whether the post shutdown and limitation of this service due to the development of technology matters for a philatelist.

The professor answers: – I must admit that I lament the decline of the classical post and redundancy of the postage whose sign was a stamp, a small picture enclosed in the perforated frame. It is often very beautiful and presents an event or an idea in a short form. I am aware that new technologies are replacing those past ones, and that stamps as a fee will lose their rationale. Nevertheless, I hope that they will endure as small works of art.

The newest series published for the 80^th anniversary of the Polish University of Wrocław consists of nine stamps. Each presents a different building, a field of study, and activities at the University. These are: Collegium Philologicum, Collegium Biotechnologicum, Collegium Astronomicum, Collegium Antropologicum, Collegium Maximum, Collegium Archeologicum, Collegium Iuridicum, Collegium Pedagogicum, and Bibliotheca Principalis.

During the recent Senate session on the 19^th of November 2025, the senators received a commemorative piece of the philatelic sheet for the 80^th anniversary of the Polish University of Wrocław.

The following photos of the UWr Senate session on the 19^th of November 2025 belong to the photo report prepared by Zuzanna Pelc.

Translated by Kinga Krzywonos (student of English Studies at the University of Wrocław) as part of the translation practice.