The Wrocław Walloon Book in BUWr
The Historical Institute of the University of Wrocław and the Library of the University of Wrocław invite you to the lecture: “The Wrocław Walloon Book – guides to the gold of the Sudetenland in a 15th-century alchemical codex”, which will be delivered by MSc Sabina Kwiecień from the Doctoral School of History at the UWr. The meeting will be hosted by dr hab Dagmara Adamska, prof. UWr, from the UWr Historical Institute.
The meeting will take place on 23th March, at 4:00 p.m in Conference Room 4, ground floor, in the University Library.
The main subject of the meeting will be so-called Wrocław Walloon Book – a unique medieval manuscript, which was created in Silesia and originates from the University Library in Wrocław. Considered lost since 1945, it has recently been identified in the Berlin collections.
The manuscript includes five 15th-century parchment guides to the mineral deposits of the Sudeten, accompanied by a collection of alchemical recipes. The contained information has significant source value for research on the landscape, late medieval mining, and the representation of Silesia’s natural resources.
The uniqueness of the manuscript is also in terms of its form: it combines practical guidance on the search for mineral deposits with alchemical knowledge circulating among the elites of late medieval Europe. These texts demonstrate a fascination with the discovery of new deposits, dreams of the transmutation of metals, and the phenomenon of a specific “gold fever” in the Sudetenland.
Translated by Oleksandra Humeniuk (student of English Studies at the University of Wrocław) as part of the translation practice.
Date of publication: 16.03.2025
Added by: M.J.
